MEMOIR 



OF 



GEORGE HOPE 



Edinburgh: Printed by Thomas and Archibald Constable 

FOR 

DAVID DOUGLAS. 

London Hamilton, adams, an t d c<> 

cambridge macmillax an'd co. 

glasgow james maclehosk. 



GEORGE HOPE 



OF FENTON BARNS 



JL §Mch ot ki0 &ife 



COMPILED BY HIS DAUGHTER 



fi 



His faith and works, like streams that intermingle, 

3 In the same channel ran ; 

The crystal clearness of an eye kept single 
Shamed all the frauds of man. 

G. Whittier. 




EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS 

1881 



Gn 



PEEFACK 

This volume was originally printed for private circu- 
lation, and in its present form has been but slightly 
altered. It consists principally of extracts from my 
father's letters to one of his brothers, with whom he 
kept up a steady correspondence for more than forty 
years, and whose care in preserving and kindness in 
sending the letters have made it possible (by letting my 
father tell his own story) to give a more vivid picture of 
his life than could have been done by any other means. 
The volume also contains statements, in his own words, 
of his opinions on those subjects in which he took the 
deepest interest. Whether this record of his life — the 
life of a tenant-farmer, spent almost entirely in his 
native county — can be of interest to any beyond those 
to whom he was personally known is a question of 
which I have not felt myself qualified to judge, and it 
is now published in consequence of the opinions of 
others as to the probability of its being of interest to a 
wider circle. To his friends I hoped that it might 



IV PREFACE. 

serve to recall him, but to those to whom he was un- 
known I fear that it can, after all, convey only a com- 
paratively faint impression of his character. That 
that impression should at least be truthful has been 
my earnest endeavour. 

C. HOPE. 

Edinburgh, December 1880. 



PAOE 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

Parentage — Birth — School-days and early life — Haddington, 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Commences farming — Nature of the soil of Fenton Barns — 

The Reform Bill— Harvest operations, . . .11 

CHAPTER III. 

Theological opinions — Leaves the Church of Scotland — 

Admiration for Dr. Channing — St. Mark's, . . 18 

CHAPTER IV. 

Meeting in favour of Disestablishment — Letters to his 
brother — East Lothian Election of 1835 — The political 
emancipation of East Lothian — The O'Connell Festival 
— Agricultural distress — Death of his mother, . . 24 

CHAPTER V. 

Lord Ramsay — Defeat of Mr. Ferguson — Canadian Rebel- 
lion — Sir T. B. Hepburn — Turning out of tenants — 
Prospects of a farmer — Visit to Islay — T. B. Macaulay 



VI CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

— Visit to Ireland — Letters to his brother John — 
Defeat of Mr. Steuart, . . . . .51 

CHAPTER VI. 

Anti-Corn-Law Conference in Edinburgh — Public meeting 
in Haddington — Prize Essay — Meetings in Manchester 
— The Leaguers at Fenton Barns — Protectionists' mani- 
festo — Anti-Corn-Law Soiree — Letter to Secretary of 
the Liverpool Anti-Monopoly Association, . . 85 

CHAPTER VII. 

Announcement of his intended marriage — Dissenters' 
Chapels Bill — Wedding tour — Fenton Barns — Grow- 
ing corn by electricity — Law of distraint — Mr. Cob- 
den's opinion of English farmers — Writing for news- 
papers — Free-Trade triumphant — Speech on Sunday 
trains — Letters from Leaguers, . . . .125 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Anti-Game-Law agitation — Letter to Sir David Baird — 

Lecture on the Game Laws, . . . .156 



CHAPTER IX. 

Railway shares and Joint- Stock Companies — Letter from 
Mrs. Gaskell — Addition to his holdings — Visit to 
England — London Exhibition of 1851 — English agri- 
culture — Liberal victory in the Haddington Burghs- 
Death of his father — Death of his third son, . .175 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER X. 

PAGE 

Foreign visitors — Dirleton farm — Mr. Nisbet Hamilton — 
Lowestoft — Dunkirk — Paris — Death of his fourth son 
— Visit to England — Death of his second daughter — 
Illness and death of his eldest son, . . . 203 

CHAPTER XI. 

Speech on labourers' cottages — Glencotho — Haddingtonshire 
Road Bill — Letters to his daughter — Replies to news- 
paper attacks — Paper on the Conditions of Agricultural 
Success, . . . . . .231 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Law of Hypothec, . . . . .253 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Haddingtonshire Election of 1865, .... 261 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Paper on the Game Laws — Deer forests — Speeches on Ex- 
tension of the Franchise, . . . .278 

CHAPTER XV. 

Notes in Ireland — Views on Ireland, . . . 287 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Paper on Education — Purchase of Sunwick — Illness and 

death of his brother John — Speech on the Game Laws, 297 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

PAGE 

Turned out of Fenton Barns — Demonstrations of sympathy, 314 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Bordlands — Letter on the Agricultural Holdings Bill — 
Lays foundation-stone of church — East Aberdeenshire 
Election, ...... 334 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Conclusion, ....... 362 

Appendix, ....... 378 



MEMOIR. 



CHAPTEK I. 

What tho' on hamely fare we dine, 
Wear hodden-grey, and a' that ; 
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, 
A man's a man for a' that. — Burns. 

Geoege Hope was descended on his father's side 
from a Dutch officer who came to England in the army 
of William of Orange, and who afterwards settled near 
Edinburgh. Of the descendants of this Dutchman 
every alternate generation made money, and the inter- 
mediate generations spent it. The great-grandfather of 
George Hope, who was the great-grandson of the 
Dutchman, belonged to the spending generation. He 
was a small farmer in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, 
and he died in such extreme poverty that his son 
Eobert, then only fourteen years of age, took advantage 
of any intervals in which his horses and carts were not 
required on his farm to turn them to account in another 
manner. At those periods he carried on the trade of a 
coal- carter, driving the coals himself, and dining mean- 
while on a penny roll and a drink of water from the 
pump. This youth belonged to the money-making 
generation, and for many years his affairs were most 
successful. In 1773 he became tenant of the farm of 
Ferrygate, on the Dirleton estate in East Lothian. He 
is renowned for having, at a sale, made the somewhat 

A 



2 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

remarkable purchases of a pulpit and a hearse ; and he 
bought these articles not because he had any special 
need for them, but simply because they were going 
cheap. He contrived, however, to make them of use. 
The pulpit was converted into a cattle- trough ; a cart 
was put upon the wheels of the hearse, the upper part 
of which was transformed into a species of box-bed. 
The driver of the cart shortly afterwards gave notice of 
his intention to leave his situation, and on his master 
inquiring the reason for this, he replied : " It 's thae 
wheels ; they aye put me in mind o' mortality." 

The East Lothian of those days was very different 
from the East Lothian of the present time. The produce 
of the grain crops was 50 per cent, less than it now is, 
and the number of sheep and cattle sent to market was 
fewer by two-thirds than it is in the present day. The 
grain was then sent to market on horseback, and farmers 
had a large four-wheeled wagon with which four horses 
and two men were sent to bring home coals, the men 
taking with them a hedge-bill and spade in order to 
cut whins and to fill up any holes in the road larger 
than usual. The public road, which passed through 
Kobert Hope's farm (a part of the high-road between 
North Berwick and Edinburgh), was annually ploughed 
so as to make it passable, and to prevent travellers from 
trampling on the sown ground. In 1796 Eobert Hope 
left Ferrygate, and took the farms of Eenton 1 and Eenton 
Barns on the same estate. These farms were about 
670 acres in extent. The cultivated portion (about 
two-thirds) was composed mainly of a stiff, retentive 
clay, very difficult to work — the remaining third was at 

1 Another ancestor of George Hope's — his maternal grand- 
mother's father — had, a generation earlier, been tenant of Fenton. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 3 

that time a moorish sand, the whole of which was 
yellow in colour and unsuitable for the growth of wheat. 
The subsoil of this portion was boulder clay, which 
at some places came to the surface. It was then 
entirely uncultivated, and was covered in great part by 
furze bushes. The character of the soil was afterwards, 
to a great extent, changed by means of tile-draining, 
subsoiling, and manuring heavily for a long series of 
years. Eobert Hope brought the waste land into culti- 
vation, but he failed to make much either of the sand 
or of the clay, and in 1801 he died, at the age of fifty- 
two, heart-broken, it was said, by his struggle for 
existence upon the barren wastes of which he was 
tenant. He had been twice married, and by his first 
wife had two sons, the second of whom, Eobert, occupied 
the farm of Fenton. The second wife of the elder 
Eobert Hope survived him, and she, along with her 
family, remained in the meantime at Fenton Barns. 

In 1809, Eobert Hope, the tenant of Fenton, married 
Christian Bogue, daughter of George Bogue, farmer, 
Stevenson Mains, East Lothian. 1 They had a family of 
seven sons and one daughter. Two of their children 
died young, their eldest son at the age of seven, and 
their youngest son at the age of four. ' George was 
their second son, and he was born on the 2d of January 
1811. When three and a half years of age he was sent 
to Dirleton parish school along with his elder brother. 

1 A relative of his mother's was on one occasion discoursing to 
George Hope on the antiquity of the Bogue family, who had been 
landed proprietors in Berwickshire. To this he replied that he 
supposed he had been in the ark on his father's side also. He was 
more proud of the energy and ability of his grandfather who had 
carted coals than he could have been of any possible antiquity of 
descent. 



4 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Before entering school he took the precaution of filling 
his pockets with stones, in order to be ready to make 
some effort at self-defence should the schoolmaster lay- 
violent hands upon him ; but no attack being made 
upon him on the first day of his appearance in school, 
he emptied the stones from his pockets without having 
mentioned the matter to any one. 

Although he was of a most industrious and per- 
severing disposition, and was possessed of a good 
understanding and a mind eager for knowledge, his 
school-days were to him a time of great unhappiness. 
Not having a good memory for words, he did not find 
it easy to learn by heart. He had the thirst for infor- 
mation common to most children before entering school, 
but which is generally so speedily strangled by the 
system of education pursued by the instructors of youth 
in this enlightened age. The principal subjects of study 
in Dirleton parish school at that time were the Shorter 
Catechism and the Latin language, and he was not very 
successful in acquiring those branches of learning. He 
enjoyed mathematics and algebra, which were within 
his comprehension, but the Shorter Catechism was 
beyond it ; and he was accustomed to say that the un- 
pleasantness'of his early associations with that publica- 
tion laid the foundation for the zeal with which he 
afterwards opposed the doctrines which it contains. 
He does not appear to have had at this period of his 
life quite as much indifference to what any one said of 
him as he afterwards attained to. Whenever it hap- 
pened that he or one of his brothers had been ill, and 
had been in consequence absent from school, the youth 
whose office it was to drive them there invariably said, 
on the re-appearance of the invalid : " Here comes the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 5 

no-weel man," and this was considered by all of them 
to be a trying ordeal through which to pass. 

In 1814 Eobert Hope took a new lease of his farm, 
and agreed to pay an increase of rent, under the expec- 
tation that prices would continue as high as they then 
were ; but this being speedily found to be a delusion, it 
became necessary for himself and his family to practise 
the most rigid economy. Butcher-meat was a luxury 
which they enjoyed but once or twice a week, and a 
single tallow- candle was deemed a sufficient light for 
the family sitting-room. Eobert Hope was in the 
habit of reading his newspaper by putting it round this 
solitary candle, a proceeding which had the effect of 
considerably obscuring the light from the other occu- 
pants of the room. His sons sometimes attempted, 
although without much success, to read by the small 
amount of light which filtered through the paper. 
Fortunately he did not get a newspaper every day ; for 
only once a week did he send to North Berwick, a 
distance of four miles, for his letters and newspapers. 
Mrs. Hope, with her own hands, baked all the bread for 
family consumption, and weighed out every loaf of the 
large supply which was baked for the field-labourers 
during the harvest months. During the year following 
the wet harvest of 1820, this household, like many 
others— for these were the days of the Corn Laws — 
lived upon bread which was almost uneatable, there 
being round every loaf a thick black streak. George 
Hope retained a vivid recollection of the difficulty of 
swallowing this substance ; of the haste which was 
made after the next harvest to have the new wheat 
threshed and sent off to be ground ; and of the pleasure 
of once more getting bread which it was not a painful 
effort to swallow. 



6 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Robert Hope being a great reader, his sons bad 
access to a larger number of books, newspapers, and 
periodicals than is usual in a house where even the 
necessaries of life are not abundant. His son George, 
who was a keen politician from a very early age, was 
accustomed to read the Examiner newspaper with 
great delight ; but even in the first decade of his life 
he could not stand Blackwood's Magazine, the Tory 
sentiments of it going against the grain with him. 

In the year 1822, when all Scotland rushed to its 
metropolis to see that wise and virtuous monarch, 
George the Fourth, Mr. and Mrs. Eobert Hope were, 
like every one else, desirous to see the wondrous spec- 
tacle, and drove to Edinburgh, a distance of twenty 
miles, for this purpose. They invited their son George 
to accompany them ; but he was very far from having 
an admiration for George the Fourth, and equally far 
from having any wish to behold royalty, and he 
declined to do so ; thus early giving promise of be- 
coming " the man of independent mind." 

Times became harder and harder, and Eobert Hope 
was forced to decline even to visit his neighbours, 
telling them he could not afford to entertain them in 
return. At last he made up his mind that he could 
weather the storm no longer, and one day he informed 
his family that he could still pay all his debts, but that 
this would not be long the case if he continued to try 
to struggle on : he therefore intended to give up his 
farm and go to America. On the following Friday he 
returned from Haddington market with the tidings that 
his rent would for the future be on the scale of the 
price of corn ; and this alteration from a money to a 
corn rent caused him to abandon his intention of emi- 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 7 

grating, and determined him still to remain tenant of 
Fenton. In 1820, his half-brother, who occupied the 
farm of Fenton Barns, died ; and his landlord, Mr. 
Nisbet, declined (with some reason) to have his remain- 
ing half-brother, John Hope, for a tenant, but begged 
Eobert Hope to take Fenton Barns himself, in addition 
to Fenton. To this he replied that he had not suffi- 
cient capital to take so large a farm as Fenton Barns ; 
but Mr. Nisbet, having a high opinion of his skill as 
an agriculturist, insisted that he should take the farm, 
saying that there was no hurry about the rent. But 
" there is a certain amount of capital proportioned to 
the size of the farm (whether that consists of 10 or 
of 1000 acres), without which no man, be he ever so 
industrious, and prudent, and skilful, can possibly 
farm land with advantage to himself or any one else ;"* 
and the result therefore of Bobert Hope taking Fenton 
Barns was that he never, to the end of his life, suc- 
ceeded in making a single sixpence. That is to say, 
he never was beforehand to that extent; he made 
enough to exist upon, and to carry on his farm after a 
very unsatisfactory fashion. This is an illustration of 
the so-called benefit which the law of hypothec has 
enabled landlords to confer on tenants with capital 
insufficient for the size of their farms. Many years 
after becoming tenant of Fenton Barns, Bobert Hope 
writes to one of his sons : — "You will no doubt rejoice 
to see that, after many long years of anxiety and 
difficulty, I have lived to be mentally at ease, although 
with nothing as yet beforehand ; but to be able to pay 
every man is one of the highest points of human 

1 Letter of Mr. Wilson, late of Edington Mains, to the Earl of 
Airlie. 



8 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

felicity, at least so far as money matters go." His 
difficulties were increased by his being afflicted with 
numerous relatives who were always in distress for 
money, and who never ceased to drag him down. His 
poverty was certainly not due to any extravagance in 
the expenditure either of himself or of his family. 

Of George Hope's earlier years there is little to say 
which could be of interest to any beyond his own 
family. It may, however, be mentioned that his grand- 
father's purchase of the hearse once came near to 
proving fatal to him. The bed into which it had been 
turned was made with a door which could be fastened 
from the inside, and into this he shut himself and fell 
asleep. His father, discovering that the door was shut, 
was, as may be supposed, afraid that he might be 
suffocated, and, unable either to unfasten it or to make 
him hear, at last broke it open with the poker ; but 
even this failed to arouse the sleeper, who was sur- 
prised on the following morning to see the door of his 
bed broken to splinters. 

After leaving Dirleton parish school George Hope 
went to school in the town of Haddington for a year 
or two. At the age of fourteen he entered the office 
of Mr. Donaldson, a lawyer in Haddington, but he 
continued to attend classes in the evenings. He 
remained in Mr. Donaldson's office for four years. 
During his residence in Haddington he struck his first 
blow as a political agitator by signing a petition, and, 
I think, attending a meeting, in favour of the removal 
of Catholic disabilities — a measure in the passing of 
which he took the deepest interest, although it was 
generally regarded in Haddington with much dislike 
and suspicion, as tending to encourage Popery. On 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 9 

next going home he asked his father what was his 
opinion of Catholic emancipation, and he was sur- 
prised to hear that it was no other than his father 
who had written the draft of the petition which he 
had signed. 

Haddington is six miles from Fenton, and he usually 
walked home this distance every week to spend Sunday ; 
but when he remained in Haddington on that day, as 
he occasionally did, he went, turn about, to the differ- 
ent churches, — a good deal disposed to criticise what 
he heard at all of them. 

During the years which he spent in Haddington 
pecuniary matters at home did not improve. His 
mother writes to him : — " My dear Son, — I have at last 
got sales [of her butter and eggs] effected to the amount 
of the Misses B.'s account, which I beg you will pay 
without delay. I have not been able to procure a 
single shilling from your father." It was a great 
object of Mrs. Hope's ambition to possess a table large 
enough for all her family to sit round at once, and year 
after year she saved up for this the small sums of 
money which she made by selling butter and eggs, but 
always, as she had saved nearly enough for her purpose, 
the money was required for some more pressing need, 
and the table was never got. 

It was not George Hope's wish to be a farmer, his 
experience of the profession of agriculture leading him 
to believe that it was well-nigh impossible to live on 
the pittance which could be made by it. He had seen 
his father struggling for years against difficulties which 
often threatened to overwhelm him, and his mother's 
health had already begun to break down under the 
pressure of constant hard work combined with anxiety. 



10 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

But after he had been four years in Mr. Donaldson's 
office it was thought desirable that he should go home ; 
and not very hopefully, and at the call rather of duty 
than of inclination, he went home to the farm which he 
was afterwards to render famous. He never regretted 
the years he had spent in a lawyer's office, and always 
considered that the training he had there received was 
of great value to him through life. Mr. Donaldson's 
opinion of him may be gathered from the following 
note : — 

" Haddington, 25th April 1829. 
" My dear George, — As the time has now arrived 
when our connection has to cease, I think it right to 
say that it is with feelings of much regret on my part. 
During the time you have been under my charge I 
have witnessed your steadiness and attention with 
sincere pleasure, and if you carry into after life the same 
qualities which I have observed when you have been 
with me, I can have no doubt of your success in the 
world. — Believe me to be, with best wishes for your 
future welfare, your sincere friend, 

" Alexr. Donaldson." 



CHAPTEE II. 

By oppression's woes and pains ! 
By your sons in servile chains ! 
We will drain our dearest veins, 

But they shall be free !— Burns. 

On commencing life as a farmer (as he did at Fenton 
Barns, his parents having removed there a year or two 
before his return home) George Hope set to work with 
great energy. For many years he did himself the work 
which is generally performed by a bailiff, of personally 
superintending all the farming operations, getting up 
for this purpose at five o'clock every morning. He 
even found it necessary frequently to get up at one 
o'clock in the morning and to breakfast at two, in order 
to ride to Edinburgh to attend the cattle-market, which 
was then held at six a.m. He had not been many 
months at home before he seems to have been left for 
a time to take the entire superintendence of the farm, 
his father having accompanied his mother to Inner- 
leithen, where she had gone to try the effect of the then 
famous waters upon her health. They drove there 
(sixty miles) in their own gig, this being the cheapest 
and easiest mode of conveyance. 

His father writes to him from Innerleithen : — 

"Innerleithen, July 2d, 1829. 

"My dear George, — I received your letter this 
morning, by which your mother and I were happy to 



12 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

learn that you were all well, and, we make no doubt, 
happy. Your mother is beginning to derive benefit 
from the waters here. We are just returned from a 
pleasant drive in the gig down the Tweed as far as 
Galashiels, one of the pleasantest, most thriving, and 
cleanly places I ever saw ; it is twelve miles from this. 
We took two and a half hours on the road, but we 
dined there, which allowed your mother time to rest, 
so as to enable her to return without much fatigue. I 
was much pleased to hear your accounts of weather, 
wheat, turnips, etc., and I flatter myself matters will go 
on equally favourably till we see you all. ... If you 
write again, say how the market is with you to-day, 
with all about the weather, wheat, crops, fallows, etc., 
and especially how you and all your brothers are. This, 
nor anywhere in the neighbourhood, cannot be con- 
sidered a com country, so of course I have nothing to 
say on the appearance of crops, as the little grown is 
but indifferent. . . . — I am affectionately yours, 

"Kobert Hope." 

Within two or three years of the period of his leav- 
ing Haddington, George Hope received an offer of a 
good situation in Australia, which, so far as pecuniary 
remuneration was concerned, would have been a remark- 
ably favourable opening for him. He rather wished to 
accept of the offer, and his father said he might do 
what he pleased ; but his mother, whose health had by 
that time completely broken down, being very averse 
to him leaving the county he declined the situation. 
He was often much discouraged at the apparent impos- 
sibility of raising average crops on Fenton Barns. He 
had frequently occasion to ride through different parts 



MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 13 

of the country; wherever he went he saw crops far 
superior to any of his own, and on returning home from 
these expeditions the contrast of the miserable crops on 
Fenton Barns with those he had seen elsewhere was 
sometimes almost more than he could bear. The soil 
was much the same as it had been in his grandfather's 
time. The farm was still undrained, the clay unsanded, 
the sand unclayed, and Peruvian guano unknown. 

Of the state of Parliamentary representation in the 
county previous to the passing of the Eeform Bill, 
George Hope has given the following account. " In 
this county," he says, speaking in the town of Had- 
dington, "there were some 150 or 160 freeholders, but 
many of them merely paper voters, having no interest 
in the land of which they were the nominal superiors. 
In the burghs matters were even worse. Then, as now, 
this and the four sister burghs returned a member 
amongst them, but he was then elected by five dele- 
gates, one from each of the town-councils. In this 
burgh and Jedburgh the councils were tolerably open, 
though the members did elect each other, but at 
Dunbar and Lauder the council were the nominees of 
the Lauderdale family, and at North Berwick of the 
Dalrymples. The compact was that the Lauderdales 
nominated the member twice and the Dalrymples once. 
Three delegates being the majority, Haddington and 
Jedburgh might do as they pleased. I was a very 
young man when the Eeform agitation commenced. It 
was first proposed to give members to the city of Man- 
chester and one or two other places. This was resisted 
by the Tories as a breaking down or upsetting of the 
constitution of the country, and I recollect feeling first 
indignant and then pleased when the proposal was 



14 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

negatived. If it had been carried perhaps the Reform 
agitation might have been stopped, but it was certain 
that as long as such a place as Manchester was unrepre- 
sented the contest would be continued, and we in Scot- 
land likewise might be ultimately successful in obtain- 
ing our fair share of the government of the country." 

In May 1831 he writes to one of his brothers : 
" There was a great talk " [in Haddington market] " of 
the election of a delegate at Lauder. You would hear 
that Steuart " [the Liberal candidate] " has gained, and 
what a mob there was, and how Mr. C. Simpson, the 
Laird of Threepwood, was carried off per force from the 
election." 

" The burghs of Haddington, Jedburgh, and Lauder," 
says the Haddingtonshire Register in Oliver and Boyd's 
Almanac, "voted for Mr. Steuart at Jedburgh, 23d 
May 1831, but owing to the abduction of one of the 
voters in a riot at Lauder on the choosing a delegate, 
4th May, the election of Mr. Steuart was nullified by 
the House of Commons." 

Mr. Hope continues his account of the Reform agita- 
tion as follows : — " The struggle was continued, and 
throughout the whole of 1831, and up to the 7th of 
June 1832, the country was in a very excited state. I 
attended the great meeting in the Queen's Park at 
Edinburgh, and several meetings in this town. To one 
of the latter we marched to the hustings with the beat- 
ing of muffled drums, and with black flags, skulls, and 
cross-bones, for had the Tories not yielded our freedom 
would have been achieved with blood. But even the 
great captain of the age quailed before the united 
demand of the British people, and peace and wisdom 
ultimately prevailed." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 15 

So great was George Hope's enthusiasm that he felt 
quite ready to fight if the Bill did not pass, for he knew 
that the interests of those who do not possess the 
suffrage are inevitably postponed to the interests of 
those who do, and that no laws, however barbarous, 
however unjust, which relate to the former, have much 
chance of being amended. He therefore considered that 
no means by which the weapon of the suffrage could 
be obtained were too strong to take. The following is 
an anecdote which is illustrative of the contempt with 
which those who have enjoyed a monopoly of political 
power are apt to regard the unenfranchised : — " During 
the Eeform Bill agitation a landed proprietor in East 
Lothian was one day giving instructions to his over- 
seer, when the latter remarked that the people in Aber- 

lady thought so and so about the Bill. Mr. sprang 

from his chair in horror, exclaiming, ' Politics in Aber- 
lady ! Good God ! do the people in Aberlady talk 
politics?'" Is not this a good deal like the spirit in 
which a certain order of minds look upon an attempt to 
extend the suffrage in the present day ? 

The few letters which remain written by George 
Hope at a period so far back as this are short, and 
relate principally to prices in the different markets, but 
a few extracts from them may be here quoted. They 
are all addressed to his brother Adam. In a letter 
written during the spring of 1832, he says, after refer- 
ring to the cholera : — " It is said that camphor is an 
article for keeping away infection not to be despised, 
but whatever you or Charles may think of it yourselves, 
it is your mother's wish that you both provide your- 
selves with a portion of it to carry about on your 
person ; if it does you no good, it can do you no harm. 



1 6 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

A number of people died at Haddington yesterday. . . . 
— Yours affectionately, George Hope. 

" P.S. — If ever you are any way ill you must send 
immediately for Dr. Lewins ; you must take no spirits ; 
brandy, etc., only adds fuel to the fire. G-. H. 

" 2d P.S. — As a proof of your mother's anxiety about 
you, I have to add a second postscript. You ought to 
drink no water unless it has been boiled and then cool 
again. Boiled water alone is drunk here. G-. H." 

[Autumn 1832.] 

"We have sustained very serious damage by the 
rains. Our barn-yard was a scene of perfect confusion 
yesterday ; we took the tops off thirty-three wheat 
stacks, and took the wet parts again to the fields, and 
then made them up again with dry corn. Previously 
we had had no straw to thatch them, but if it is dry 
to-morrow we shall have the most of them secure. 
Purchase for me Harris's sermon on the Eeform, to- 
gether with the account of the Thousand Churches of 
America, provided the two are not above a shilling; 
if they are, then purchase one of them, and send it 
to me. I return Smith's Appeal. Send out Cobbett's 
America. 

" My mother sends in a piece of ham, but take care 
you don't indulge in too much of it at a time, as it is 
indigestible stuff." 

The next letter appears to have been written a few 
days later : — 

"We got all our crop safe into the barn-yard last 
night, and this day it was put under ' thack and rape/ 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 17 

and we intend celebrating our harvest-home on Satur- 
day first. You mentioned in one of your late letters 
that Mr. D. wished to come out to it ; my father says 
he will be happy to see Mr. D. then or at any time. 
Do you know if Mr. D. is aware of the nature of the 
ploy ? If he is not, you ought to inform him that the 
only ladies present are our shearers, and that the men 
take their coats off and dance as if on piece-work. 

" After leaving you on Wednesday last I went to Mr. 
T. Moffat's, junr., who asked me to stay all night with 
him, and he would go and hear Cobbett with me, which 
I did, and I assure you I was much gratified. 

" I return Bentham and the Magazine. 

" The sacks have come to hand ; they are dear enough 
at 9d." 



CHAPTEE III. 

Thou, wha in the Heavens dost dwell, 
Wha, as it pleases best thysel', 
Sends ane to heaven and ten to hell, 

A' for thy glory, 
And no for ony guid or ill 

They've done afore Thee !— Burns. 

George Hope early began to dislike many things 
which he heard said in orthodox Churches. His mother 
came of an extremely orthodox family, her father even 
thinking it sinful to shave upon Sunday, and she her- 
self never so much as permitting a clock to be wound 
up in her house on that day. Eobert Hope was, how- 
ever, by no means orthodox, and when questioned by 
his son George as to the meaning of certain pulpit 
utterances, would readily admit that he thought these 
utterances to be nonsense ; but he justified himself for 
remaining a member of the Established Church by 
quoting something, which he said was in the West- 
minster Confession of Faith, to the effect that it was 
only necessary to believe the contents of that volume 
if it were possible. 

But George Hope's was not a nature which could 
rest satisfied under a quibble of this kind. A God 
whose " tender mercies are over all his works," and who 
could yet create a hell and doom to everlasting torments 
the great majority of the human race, was incredible to 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 19 

him. The following words are written on a scrap of 
paper in his handwriting ! — " One, two — another soul 
in hell : ' God is love.' One, two — yet another in 
torments : * Like as a father pitieth his children, so 
the Lord pitieth them that fear him ; for he know- 
eth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust/" 
Equally abhorrent to him with the Presbyterian hell 
was the doctrine of "the Atonement." That the 
innocent should suffer for the guilty, and should 
thereby "appease the wrath of the Deity," seemed 
to him to be contrary to the eternal laws of justice. 
These beliefs, he said, " attributed a character to the 
Almighty which he would hesitate to attribute even 
to the vilest of mankind." He says, in reference 
to " the Atonement : " — " It is said that the infinite 
loving Father cannot, on account of His justice, pardon 
the sins of His frail and erring children without inflict- 
ing the penalty on the second person of the Trinity. 
This, it appears to me, would be gross injustice, and 
there is no more warrant for it in Scripture than there 
is for first, second, and third persons in the Godhead. 
But this is not all : first we are told that Adam's sin — 
eating an apple — has been imputed to us, which con- 
demns the whole human race to eternal torments ; but 
then the righteousness of Christ is also imputed to us 
— provided we believe on him. This seems to me a 
perfect juggle, founded altogether on erroneous ideas of 
true justice, and of the loving service we owe to God. 
Then what becomes of the immense majority of the 
human race who never heard of Christ ? Verily, men 
think the infinite loving Father altogether such an one 
as themselves. Can anything be more plain in the 
New Testament than that Christ taught us ' God was 



20 MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 

our Father in heaven ' ? Think what the word Father 
implies. If a human parent could treat his children as 
our heavenly Father is said, in spite of Christ's teach- 
ing, to treat his human family, would he not be exe- 
crated as a bloodthirsty monster ? What can be more 
touching, more consoling, than Christ's parable of the 
prodigal son, who, ' when he was yet a great way off, 
his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and 
fell on his neck, and kissed him ; ' and in replying to 
the elder son, who was angry, he said : ' It was meet we 
should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was 
dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found ' ? Is 
there the slightest hint here of atonement being re- 
quired ? Nay, Christ says, ' If ye forgive men their 
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you/ 
We are also told to ' love our enemies,' and to ' bless 
those that curse us/ that we may be the children of 
our Father, who ' maketh his sun to rise on the evil 
and on the good/ and ' sendeth rain on the just and 
on the unjust/ This indeed is truly the gospel, or 
good news." 

" With doubt, and difficulty, and much labour," he 
escaped from Calvinism, and rejoiced that he had been 
" able to repudiate a faith so agonising." " I can scarcely 
credit," he says, " the struggles I once had with myself 
before I took firmly to my heart the idea of the Father- 
hood of God and the brotherhood of man. . . . I cannot 
even understand how I ever believed the things I once 
did, or how I could sit with patience listening to the 
frightful doctrines enunciated from orthodox pulpits." 
He did not listen with patience for very long. One 
day, while sitting in Dirleton Church, he was so much 
horrified at the words used by the Eev. Mr. Stark, in 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 2 1 

what is called " fencing the tables of the Lord's 
Supper/' that he could with difficulty restrain himself 
from getting up and walking out of the church. He 
resolved never to enter it again, and on going home 
stated his determination. His mother on hearing this 
burst into tears, and said . it was what she had always 
expected. He was grieved by her distress, but his 
opinions were not of a kind which could be altered at 
will; and to assume the appearance of believing one 
thing while he really believed another was to him 
simply impossible : he never in his life sailed under 
false colours. It was never given to him to wear his 
beliefs (whether theological or political) loosely, as 
things which could be thrown aside when likely to 
prove inconvenient ; they were part of his life. 

From reading Evans's Sketches of religious denomina- 
tions, he found there were persons with whose opinions 
he agreed, and he requested one of his brothers, who 
then resided in Leith, to try if he could find in Edin- 
burgh any church wherein there was preached a faith in 
accordance with what they both believed. His brother, 
after trying various places of worship, at length dis- 
covered the Unitarian Chapel, then in Young Street. 

About this time George Hope met with a sermon of 
Dr. Channing's which greatly delighted him, and he 
spoke of it to a friend, who thereupon showed him all 
Dr. Channing's works, carefully concealed under lock 
and key. He read, them with a pleasure which he 
never forgot, and to the end of his life he entertained 
for Dr. Channing an enthusiastic admiration. " When 
I first," he says, " came across Dr. Channing's writings 
I was electrified by them. I felt that he gave a clear 
and articulate expression to the dim thoughts that had 



22 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

previously floated through my own mind. By his 
assistance I looked higher up the blue vault above us, 
and obtained a clearer view of the infinite Father. I 
felt more strongly the great wrong which Calvinism 
inflicts on his character, and the evils which accrue to 
God's children from this blighting error. But it is not 
alone in religious sentiment, exactly so called, that I 
have been educated by his instructions ; from him I 
have obtained juster views of the rights and worth of 
the human race. Who that reads his writings can be 
insensible to the sin and misery of war, to the great 
curse of slavery, to the guilt of ambition, which makes 
murder the trade of thousands, subjugating men's souls 
and breaking them to servility as the chief duty of 
life ! How he stripped the robe of glory from the back 
of the first Napoleon, and made us thankful that the 
ocean had a rock on which to chain such tyrants !" 

Writing of one of his expeditions to St. Mark's Chapel 
he says: — "I left here at eight a.m., and was home again 
at half-past seven p.m. ... I assure you I did not 
grudge my ride. It was a truly intellectual feast to 
listen to the strong appeals to your reason and your 
conscience. It was shown too that man was not a 
wholly depraved and malignant demon, as taught by a 
withering superstition, but that he possessed godlike 
faculties, capable of illimitable expansion." He writes 
again : — " I never leave St. Mark's Chapel without 
being deeply impressed with the importance and duty 
of increased vigilance and renewed activity in the dis- 
charge of every moral, social, and domestic obligation, 
as the only means of obtaining solid happiness either 
here or hereafter." He had a strong objection to 
entering any Trinitarian place of worship, and looked 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 23 

upon the attending regularly at such, by those holding 
Unitarian opinions, as " a practical denial of the faith." 
He adopted Unitarian opinions before he had ceased to 
believe in the inspiration of the Bible, and, although he 
of course did not continue to consider the Bible as a 
supernatural revelation, he always leaned to the more 
conservative side of Unitarianism. Yet up to a certain 
point he had greater sympathy with those whose 
opinions diverged from his own on the heterodox side 
than on the other, with Theism rather than with even 
the mildest description of Trinitarianism. But beyond 
Theism his sympathies did not reach, Positivism or 
Agnosticism being almost as incomprehensible to him 
as orthodox Christianity itself. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Lay the proud usurpers low ! 
Tyrants fall in every foe ! 
Liberty 's in every blow ! 

Let us do or die. — Burns. 



EROM ME. ADAM HOPE TO HIS BROTHER GEORGE. 

[1833.] 

" A public meeting in Edinburgh has been for some 
time in agitation, as you already know, for the purpose 
of endeavouring to effect a separation of Church and 
State. The Radicals became apprehensive that the 
Whigs would make an attempt at a compromise. They 
therefore wisely sent notices to all the trusty friends 
to be at their post to-night for the purpose of thwarting 
any half-and-half measures which their more timid 
friends might take it into their heads to propose. The 
meeting to-night was for the purpose of considering 
the time when a public meeting should be called, and 
the nature of the resolutions which should be embodied 
at that meeting. The number present in Rose Street 
Chapel was about fifty ; Councillor Duncan M'Laren in 
the chair. Adam Black spoke about waiting to see 
what extent of reform the ministry would grant, as 
by our commencing operations we might embarrass 
the Government ! ! ! 



MEMOTR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 25 

"The meeting came to the resolution of calling a 
public meeting as soon as possible, and to petition 
Parliament for a redress of grievances under which 
Dissenters labour, and that redress to be an immediate, 
total, and eternal separation of Church and State. Dr. 
Eitchie of the Potterrow, in alluding to a remark 
which the Lord Advocate [Jeffrey] had made at his 
dinner in the Waterloo Eooms, when he had stated his 
determination to support the Established Church, and 
which remark, being received with cheers, a gentleman 
in the meeting to-night expressed his doubts if the 
public mind was ripe for a meeting versus the Church, 
— 'I was at that dinner/ observed Eitchie, 'having been 
presented with a ticket (I think he said by the Lord 
Advocate), and I heard Frank Jeffrey's observation on 
the Church with burning indignation, but, situated as I 
felt myself, I refrained from taking any notice of the 
matter, and I speak from fact when I say that dozens 
around me were as much displeased as I was ; but let 
Frank Jeffrey catch me in the same trap again V 

" I suppose the public meeting will come off in a 
fortnight." 

Mr. Adam Hope, who was then thinking of going to 
America, writes to his father, advising him to do like- 
wise. " Were I you," he says, " I would leave their 
upper muirs and their lower muirs, 1 to those who liked 
them, resolving, in the language of the prophet, that as 
for me and my house we will eat the bread of indepen- 
dance on the banks of the Genesee." His father did 
not take this advice, but Mr. Adam Hope sailed for 

1 Many of the fields on Fenton Barns were formerly called muirs 
— an indication of the original nature of the soil. 



26 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

New York in April 1834, and from thence proceeded 
to Hamilton, Canada. 

FROM MR. G. HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, July 1834. 
"... The Hamilton Express arrived on the 1 1th. 
If this newspaper be a fair index of those printed in 
Canada, as I am inclined to think it is, there is a wide 
field for improvement. It could not well be more 
barren of news. If instead of filling it with silly stories 
they were to give an account of the trade of the port, 
the prices current, and a great deal more of both 
foreign and domestic news, it would surely be made 
far more interesting. You might write to the editor 
and tell him so. ... I think it would be better for 
this country to be on a different footing with the 
Canadas ; it may be all very well for Canada as long 
as this country continues to spend there more money 
than what it actually raises in it, but the moment they 
cease doing so, Canada will shake us off, whenever 
infatuated John Bull shall gain his senses to open his 
eyes and shut his pockets. . . . This country is in a 
ticklish state. The Eadicals cry 'Get on;' the Lords 
say, ' Eemain as you are ;' the Whigs say, ' Have 
patience and their Lordships will yield.' " 

" 9th Sept. 1834. 

" Your letter of the 4th July reached us safely on 
the 7th of last month. We had only commenced our 
harvest on the 4th August, and our apology for not 
sooner acknowledging the receipt of your letter must 
be the continued state of exertion which you know our 
harvest brings along with it ; managing thirty-four and 
thirty-six rigs of shearers is, I assure you, a pretty 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 27 

tiresome job. The shearing lasted four weeks ; the 
weather throughout the whole period was delightful. 
In the course of a few days the whole country whitened 
as if by magic. By the time we got our barley cut we 
had 200 acres of wheat dead ripe ; a sough of wind 
made one quake, but we got it all cut down and safe 
in the barn-yard without a particle of loss. Shearers 
were not so numerous as for some years past, and the 
demand for them was great ; wages were consequently 
high, — from Is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per day. The expense 
has certainly been great, but the fine weather was a 
compensation, and we had none of that miserable 
humiliation of able-bodied men and women begging 
for food or employment. . . . All the most celebrated 
men of Britain, as well as many from different parts of 
the world, are at present congregated in Edinburgh 
attending the meeting of the British Scientific Society. 
A great many Unitarian ministers belong to it, and are 
at present in Edinburgh attending. I was in Edin- 
burgh on Sunday last; Mr. Turner from Newcastle 
preached in our chapel in the forenoon. He is an old 
gentleman, upwards of eighty, remarkably stout for his 
years, possessing in full vigour all his faculties. . . . 
Mr. Stannus preached himself in the afternoon, though 
Mr. Yates, the opponent of Dr. Wardlaw, and Mr. 
Wellbeloved, the Principal of York College, were both 
in the chapel, but they were anxious to hear Mr. S. 
preach himself. You will be happy to learn that the 
present chapel is disposed of for £700, reckoned by the 
members a good price, and a new one is to be built in 
the Lothian Eoad. The granting a site for such a pur- 
pose was objected to by the late Provost Learmonth, 
but he was overruled by the rest of the Improvement 



28 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Commissioners. The fine road round the back of the 
Castle Hill makes the place chosen not so bad as one 
would at first imagine." 

Eobert Hope, in writing to his son Adam, says : — 
" You will no doubt be anxious to hear about the [new 
lease of the] farms. The truth is, nothing decisive is 
done yet, but it is understood we are all to remain, — 
that is East Fenton, Queenston, and ourselves, — and I 
believe at the old rents. Mr. J. Thomson, however, 
has advertised his land that you know George is tenant 
of, but we are indifferent. . . . Your Canadian editors 
are really scurrilous fellows ; if ever you write them, 
you should tell them nothing attracts the notice of a 
person from the mother country so quickly as the 
difference in the tone and language of their public 
writers, and nothing in the new world shows so strongly 
the ignorance and gross vulgarity of their readers who 
tolerate such a style of writing." 

Eobert Hope's two youngest sons were at this time 
living in Leith, where they do not appear to have been 
very plentifully supplied with money : — 

FROM MR. JOHN HOPE TO HIS BROTHER GEORGE. 

"Leith, 11th August 1834. 
" I here offer my father my whole honey at 5s. the 
pint. If he does not like to give that, James Leith 
had better try what he can get for it here. I am 
desperate hard up for money just now. I think you 
must halve your second hive betwixt us." 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

" Leith, 20th August 1834. 

" I received your much esteemed favour by James 
Leith, and it is not with a little astonishment and sur- 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 29 

prise that I observe what you say regarding the honey. 
You surely must not have read my letter with your 
usual attention. Well, here attend to what I am going 
to say : I hereby sell all my honey to my father at the 
rate of 5s. per pint, but if it should happen that the 
current price of honey should be rating above that 
amount, my father, being informed of the same, imme- 
diately to pay the difference ; if 5s. is above the mark, 
my father is still liable to pay the full amount, his 
agreeing to which is by your letter received yesterday. 
I would have supposed that the money could have been 
at once sent in for the three pints. It will be as well 
to send in the produce of the hive at Fenton here, but 
not until we see what yours brings, — that is to say, if 
money is to be so dilatory in coming forward. I don't 
like to plague my father, so see and attend to the above. 
Now about your second hive : do you intend to halve it ? 
In justice you should ; therefore at your convenience 
please state so. r 

In the first election which took place in East 
Lothian after the passing of the Eeform Bill, the Whig 
candidate, Sir David Baird, was defeated, Mr. Balfour, 
the Tory candidate, having a majority of 39. • But an- 
other struggle was to be made to rescue the county 
from Tory thraldom. An account of the East Lothian 
election of 1835 is given in the following letters : — 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, 9i!7i Deer. 1834. 
"You will have heard, no doubt, long before this 
reaches you, of the change of Ministry that has taken 
place. Nothing as yet appears to be settled. The 



30 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Duke continues dictator ; but nobly has the country 
and nobly has the press done their duty. It is perfect 
insanity to think that the Duke can govern the coun- 
try. ' We will have none of him !' has been re-echoed 
through the land. Many of the addresses to the King 
have been most pointed and admirable, for while 
praying for the Duke's dismissal, they also tell his 
Majesty in no unequivocal terms, how his conduct is 
calculated to bring the monarchy into contempt, if the 
country is to be thrown often into such a state through 
the imbecility of the individual swaying the sceptre. 
A dissolution of Parliament is immediately looked for, 
as it is the only chance for the Tories, and a very small 
one too. Already honourable members are paying their 
respects to their constituents, and this county is at 
present the scene of an active canvass. Our landlord, 
Mr. Ferguson, has started on the Eeforming interest, to 
put down Wellington, and he is opposed by Mr. Hope, 
younger of Luffness, as the Tory candidate ; but Mr. 
H. is too liberal by far, for, as his father expresses it, 
' his conduct will always be in unison with any Minis- 
try which his Majesty may be pleased to form.' [Mr. 
J. T. Hope had displayed his sagacity and foresight by 
stating, in 1831, that the Eeform Bill 'would never 
again be heard of within the walls of Parliament.' He 
had the hardihood to ask George Hope for his vote, the 
only occasion on which any one ever ventured to do so, 
and no veteran politician could have considered it a 
greater insult.] About ten days ago Mr. H. issued 
an advertisement, stating that Mr. Balfour having 
intimated his intention to resign in the event of a 
dissolution, he offered himself as a candidate, while at 
the same time he set off to Harewood in Yorkshire to 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 31 

be married, not anticipating an opposition. Great 
anxiety was felt by the Liberals, as Sir David Baird 
declined standing, but Mr. Steuart of Alderston, M.P. 
for Haddington, etc., and Mr. Donaldson, set off for 
Kaith, and stated the case to Mr. Ferguson, who at 
once came nobly forward to endeavour to snatch the 
county from the Tories, and as matters are far better 
managed than at the last election, I anticipate a very 
different result. . . . 

"... My mother desires me to say that she con- 
tinues to spur us on to write to you, and also that she 
has sold 106 lbs. of salt butter at 9d. per lb. She has 
fifty dozen eggs keeping in salt. She could get lid. 
a dozen for them from the carrier at the door, but is 
waiting to see and get Is." 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON ADAM. 

"WthJany. 1835. 

" When Mr. Ferguson, to the delight of the Liberals, 
consented to come forward, the consequence was that 
every exertion was made to secure his return by the 
formation of central and parochial committees, and by 
every other means, fair and honourable, that could be 
devised. George is one of this parish committee, and 
we are in hopes of success, although the enemy is 
strong, and stick at no means to accomplish their ends. 
Wednesday is the day of the nomination ; Friday and 
Saturday are the polling days, and they will fix the 
fate of this county, either as free, or doomed to Tory 
thraldom, for ages to come. 

" As to our own affairs : about the farms, nothing is 
done, Mr. Ferguson being so much occupied with public 
matters; but I had a note the other day from Mr. 



32 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Donaldson, to say that everything will be settled to 
my entire satisfaction whenever this terrible bustle and 
crisis is over ; indeed, we are drawing lime, and doing 
everything like settled tenants. Mrs. Ferguson was 
here yesterday in high spirits; it was her influence 
that induced Mr Ferguson to start, otherwise the toil, 
anxiety, and expense would never have been encoun- 
tered by him. We all go to Haddington on Wednesday, 
with ardent hopes, not unmingled with anxiety and 
fear. 

" Learmonth and Lord Eamsay have started as 
opponents to the late members [in Edinburgh]. Lord 
Eamsay is eldest son to Earl Dalhousie, a smart boy 
just from school : the result of that as well as other 
elections will be noted before closing this, next week." 

11 Saturday Evening, 17 th Jany. 1835. 
" Well, on Wednesday was the nomination at Had- 
dington, and yesterday and to-day the polling days, 
and a glokious triumph we have got S Mr. Ferguson 
has carried the county by 36 of a majority, beating the 
Tories and aristocracy in the most aristocratic county 
in Scotland. Our voters were actually stolen from 
their houses on Thursday night ; one was carried from 
Garvald, but found out, concealed, and confined in a 
house at the back of Traprain Law ; rescued by your 
cousin, J. B., and others, and brought to-day to the 
poll. But the most extraordinary thing was a chaise 
and four coming at full gallop to be in time for the 
poll, carrying a gentleman and a feeble old man — the 
voter — actually found at Habbie's Howe, in the Pent- 
land Hills. A chapman reported to a farmer that he 
had seen (yesterday it was) an old man, drunk, in the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 33 

hands of two post-boys, who were pouring, ever and 
anon, into him quantities of rum, and the old man was 
crying out as he was able, ' Ferguson for ever ! Fer- 
guson for ever ! ' The circumstance was carried to a 
farmer, a Mr. Finnie, who had the day before seconded, 
at Edinburgh, the nomination of Mr. Gibson-Craig. 
Mr. Finnie instantly suspected that the man had been 
kidnapped, and that the contest here must be close and 
keen to tempt to such a prank. The rascals in whose 
possession he was were to be subdued by force, and 
the old man carried to Edinburgh and brought here 
as stated. He belonged to, and had been stolen from, 
Prestonpans. Well, Mr. Ferguson has carried the 
county. I need not say what my feelings are, to see 
the principles triumph that I have advocated for thirty 
years. 

"Abercromby and Campbell, by about a thousand 
each, have carried the town of Edinburgh. . , ." 

After mentioning the results of some other elections, 
he continues : — " This blow is quite stunning to the 
Tories ; we anticipate their speedy downfall. Scotland 
is really doing her duty." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" I see my father has told you what a state of excite- 
ment we have all been in for some time. You can 
have no idea of the enthusiasm of the people in favour 
of Mr. Ferguson. It is a terrible mortification to the 
Tories, as Hope thought he would walk the course. 

" Mr. F.'s majority is 37, not 36, as my father has 
said by mistake. The Sheriff is to declare Mr. F. duly 
elected to-morrow (the 20th), when we are to have pro- 
cessions, illuminations, etc. I was the first that polled 

c 



34 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

for Mr. Ferguson, being determined to start him with 
Hope against Hope?* 

FROM MR. JOHN HOPE TO HIS BROTHER GEORGE. 

"Leith, Monday night, ISth Jan. 1835. 

" My dear George, — Sincerely, most sincerely, do I 
rejoice at the victory you have gained over Tory ascend- 
ency in East Lothian. You have now overpowered the 
proud and vile aristocracy who have held the county so 
long in woful degradation. . . . The glorious victory 
which the independent electors of East Lothian have 
obtained will wreathe for them a crown of laurels that 
will redound to their honour throughout the habitable 
globe ! ! ! We will expect you in on Saturday night. 
If you don't come, you will have to rack your intellect 
in describing most minutely every circumstance regard- 
ing the election : if there were great variations in the 
state of the poll, and through what train of circum- 
stances Mr. E. was returned by so large a majority. 
C. H. was telling us how happy you and my father 
were when viewing with unfeigned satisfaction the 
going victory of Mr. F. I send this by post, to testify 
my happiness on hearing the welcome news, and I hope 
you won't grudge it, as it conveys the sentiments of 
Charles also. — Your most affectionate brother, 

" John H. Hope." 

" 34 is a good majority. Ferguson for ever — hurrah ! ! 
I knew on Saturday night at nine by express to Edin- 
burgh." 

George Hope possessed a large card, on which there 
was stated — after the names of the candidates and the 
result of the election — that he was " one of 268 electors 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 35 

who appeared at the poll and assisted in achieving the 
Political Emancipation of East Lothian." He had this 
framed, and always regarded it as one of his most valu- 
able possessions. Mr Ferguson presented a similar 
card to each of those who voted for him. 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, 14th April 1835. 

" My dear Adam, — My father has left me this and 
the following page to fill up to you, but prefixed you 
have most of our domestic news. You would probably 
see by the papers that Lord Eamsay (son of the Earl of 
Dalhousie, late Governor of Lower Canada) was a can- 
didate for the representation of Edinburgh. On the 
last day of the polling for this county, and just an hour 
or two before the polling closed, he drove up two of his 
father's tenants to vote for Hope, although they were 
previously pledged to Mr. Ferguson; yes, he drove 
them up like two cattle, and I heard the men declare 
they were flogged to the poll ! Shortly before this, 
Lord Tweeddale had proposed Lord Ramsay as a member 
of the Agricultural Society. He dined with the Society 
that day (the week before Christmas), and delivered a 
speech as full of vanity and aristocratic insolence as it 
ever fell to my lot to listen to, when he returned thanks, 
on his health being drunk as proposed by Mr Steuart, 
M.P. These two circumstances determined a number 
of the tenantry to black-ball his Lordship, which was 
accordingly done at the meeting of the Society on 
Friday the 3d curt., to the no small mortification of the 
Tories. Lord R is only the third individual who has 
been black-balled since the commencement of the 
Society sixteen years ago. . . One would imagine 



36 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

from your newspapers that Canadian politics occupied 
some space of attention here, but the truth is that not 
one in ten thousand cares a fig about them ; they are 
very seldom alluded to in the public prints, and in 
company never ; — a reason, you will probably say, for 
relieving Canada from the baneful domination of the 
mother country. . . . 

" Wm. Young was quite delighted at your mention- 
ing him in your letter ; he wishes you to come home 
with £10,000 and a gold watch in every pocket ! . . . 

" This will be closed when we hear the latest news 
of the formation of the Ministry. — Your most affec- 
tionate brother, George Hope." 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

" Fenton Barns, 20th September 1835. 
" You will probably have heard before this reaches 
you that the citizens of Edinburgh did invite Mr. 
O'Connell to a public dinner, styled the ' O'Connell 
Festival/ upon his accepting which invitation the 
inhabitants of Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, and 
other towns did the same. The Edinburgh Festival 
came off last Thursday in a most triumphant manner. 
A grand procession of the trades met O'Connell at 
Newington, from whence they marched to the Calton 
Hill, where a hustings was erected. Of course I 
attended to pay a tribute of respect to the great 
Agitator, the friend of liberty and mankind. On riding 
into Edinburgh that day, when I reached Musselburgh 
I thought I had hardly ever seen so few people about 
that town ; at Portobello scarcely a creature was to be 
seen, but on getting a little nearer Edinburgh I could 
descry masses of people on the Calton Hill. I put up 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 37 

my horse at the old place, Dods's, South Back of the 
Canongate. Not a soul was to be seen in St. Mary's 
Wynd, but on turning up the High Street I beheld at 
the Tron Church a great crowd. On getting there I saw 
the Bridges were covered with a dense mass of people, 
while every window was rilled with ladies, and on the 
steps up to the Eegister Office, as well as on the elevated 
part in front, the people were literally as thick as they 
could stand. The crowd continued as dense along the 
Waterloo Buildings to the Calton Hill, where it was 
impossible to number them. From the Register Office 
along west Princes Street not a soul was to be seen. 
O'Connell made his appearance shortly after I got to 
the Calton Hill. On the appearance of the procession 
coming along the Bridges a simultaneous movement 
was made to the place where the hustings were erected, 
each endeavouring to obtain a good situation. Already 
a great many were on the hustings, to obtain a place on 
which a shilling was the price. I have not yet seen a 
newspaper with an account of it, but I never saw any- 
thing like the number of people ; I should think there 
would be 40,000 ; the whole hill was literally covered. 
Of course not a tenth part of the crowd heard : I could 
not hear at all myself, but John was on the hustings, 
and he was much pleased with O'Connell's address. 
O'Connell appears to be between fifty and sixty ; he is 
stout, firmly built, has long black hair, and a firm deter- 
mined countenance ; he was dressed wholly in green, 
bonnet and all. John was standing at his elbow, and 
he told us how, on seeing the reporters, he, O'Connell, 
asked what gentlemen were these with the books, and 
on being answered he politely bowed to them. There 
were a great many ladies on the hustings, some of them 



38 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

standing pretty near him, and he remarked, loud enough 
for them to hear, ' How pretty ! how handsome ! ' 

"James Aytoun, advocate, presided at the dinner, and, 
in my opinion, he acquitted himself most admirably. 
There were between 1400 and 1500 at the dinner, and 
everything was conducted in the best possible manner. 
O'Connell's oratory came fully up to my expectations ; 
he showed the Lords up, with their dishonest House, 
as he called it. W. D. Gillon, M.P., made a good 
speech in proposing the health of the Earl of Durham. 
When he said that he hoped to see O'Connell and 
Durham form a Ministry, there was a simultaneous 
burst of applause, almost every individual in the room 
rising off his seat and cheering with an enthusiasm 
which I have seldom seen equalled, certainly never 
surpassed." 

" 23d September 1835. 

" Since writing the above I have seen the Scotsman 
of Saturday, which is filled with an ample description 
of the O'Connell Festival. The Scotsman thinks that 
there would be on the Calton Hill from 30,000 to 
40,000, and admits that there was never a more respec- 
table company at any public dinner in Edinburgh, with 
perhaps the exception of that to Earl Grey. There 
was neither Sir J. G-. Craig nor Sir T. Lauder, nor any 
Whig gentry (whatever the Whig press may say), at 
which I was much pleased. The more I reflect upon 
this Festival, the more I am convinced of the beneficial 
effects that must result from it ; it will not only give 
a mighty impetus to the growth of liberal opinions 
amongst the class denominated 'the clippers and pairers/ 
but such a display must strike an unwelcome flash of 
conviction even upon the minds of the aristocrats, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 39 

that their days are numbered, their power is gone, their 
reign is over. The individual with whom I was most 
delighted (next to the great 0') was Dr. John Bo wring, 
M.P. for Kilmarnock, the poet, the philosopher, the 
lover of his species. He has a mildness of manner, a 
benignity of countenance, a sweetness of voice ; and 
when he talked of the goodness of the Creator in 
placing man on this fair earth, I was completely 
enraptured with him. But I must be done with this 
dinner business." 

FROM ME. ADAM HOPE TO HIS FATHER. 

" 15th November 1835. 

" George's account of the O'Connell Festival was 
highly interesting. I send him a newspaper to let him 
see how it reads in print. It would have been a pity 
not to let our Canadian friends know what our George 
was thinking about State affairs. I asked B., the 

editor of , if he would print an extract from a 

letter of my brother's, which he at once agreed to do. 
He told me that he would not alter a word ; as for the 
Eadicalism it smacked of, that was nothing, as he 
thinks the people are all turning Kadicals. Now this 
same B., some two or three months ago, was the man 
who wrote the Toryism of the ! !" 

At this time Eobert Hope had not yet attained to 
that "highest point of human felicity, so far as money 
matters go " — the being able to pay every man ; but he 
now saw reason to hope that " all scores due by him 
might be cleared off by the ensuing spring." Eeferring 
to the conditions of the new lease of Fenton Barns, he 
writes: " I am disposed to think that our bargain offers 



40 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

a reasonable prospect of affording a fair remuneration 
for our toil and care ; and at any rate, beyond all com- 
parison, it is more promising than I ever considered our 
bargain at the beginning of the last lease twenty years 
ago." 

George Hope still thought " the prospect of a farmer 
in this country poor indeed," and he continued to be 
desirous of trying either farming or mercantile pursuits 
abroad. His father, however, was now averse to him 
even talking of leaving the country " at present." In 
November 1835 he writes to his brother: " It is eighteen 
months till you complete your three years in America, 
. . . and by that time we shall have reaped another 
harvest ; let me know if you have any objections to a 
partner with say about £300." In the following May 
he writes : " It [going to America] continues to be to 
me a subject of serious consideration, but I do not 
intend making up my mind finally till after harvest. I 
am getting a little anxious to try something for myself; 
what that something may be six months will determine." 
Although objecting to his son leaving the country, 
Eobert Hope seems to have been aware that following 
the profession of agriculture in Great Britain' is 
attended by even greater drawbacks than the difficulty 
of making by it sufficient to exist upon, for he writes : 
" will prefer farming in this country to working 



hard in America, although being tenant of 

implies no sentiments, at least no politics, but what the 
laird dictates ; but subserviency on that score confers 
relief from bodily toil, and that goes far with some 
men, especially when their opinions on any subject 
unconnected with self-interest sit lightly on them." 
And again : " We may soon expect that no man can 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 41 

pretend to independence of character in this country 
who has a farm to make his living by, and I believe the 
Reform Bill will not raise the farmer class in indepen- 
dence of character, but otherwise." 

Some letters, bearing the date of 1835, indicate that 
George Hope was then corresponding with some one in 
reference to the getting up of a petition for alterations 
in the Game Laws, so that his labours in this cause 
must have extended over a period of above forty years. 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON ADAM. 

"2 Is* November 1835. 

" With respect to the political world, matters continue 
much the same as for months past. There is now no 
expectation of a dissolution of Parliament this season, 
although it is again surmised that next summer may 
see a change. You will see by the papers that there is 
often at most political meetings, strong language about 
the necessity of a reform in the House of Lords. That 
opinion is certainly gaining ground, and is not objected 
to where a short time since it would have been thought 
little short of treason. Our Church too is labouring 
prodigiously; they seem sadly perplexed, they are 
obviously conscious that there is something rotten in 
the system, that their days are numbered ; but where or 
how they are to find a remedy appears beyond their 
comprehension. But it is the stipends in danger that 
distresses them. Permanent place and pay for life, 
however worthless the occupant, is comfortable and 
valuable to all who enjoy such situations. But all their 
straining will ultimately fail, because every official who 
labours, or pretends to labour, for the people, and who 
is paid, in one way or other, by the people, must submit 



42 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

to stand by, whenever the people are sufficiently in- 
formed neither to employ nor to pay any one but such 
as they require, and are satisfied with as being lit for 
their business. 

" I sincerely hope that matters will soon be put in 
such train as will speedily lead to a satisfactory and 
permanent settlement of all disputes in the Colonial 
Governments, by leaving the appointment of the 
members of your Upper Chambers to the people as well 
as the election of the members of the Lower House. 

" In Charles and John's letters you would have the 
accounts of the opening of the new Chapel. I was 
there, and felt it a deeply interesting and solemn 
business. I had gone to Edinburgh the evening before 
for the express purpose, and was truly happy that I 
had attended a service so grateful to my feelings and 
also to my judgment. I had to be on a jury last 
Monday, and I again availed myself of the opportunity 
of attending service in the Chapel on the Sunday after- 
noon, when I heard a brilliant discourse from Mr. 
Stannus. 

"You have heard of Jessie having gone to a boarding- 
school at Haddington, an excellent situation for her, 
we think, as there are numerous day-scholars, thus 
enabling Jessie to associate with others. She is happy, 
I think, poor girl, and I hope may yet become strong, 
like others of her age." 

He is here speaking of his only daughter, who was 
partially paralysed from her birth, and was thus an 
object of great care and solicitude to her parents and 
brothers. After this time she only returned to Fenton 
Barns for occasional visits. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 43 

In April 1836 Eobert Hope went to London to be 
examined by a Select Committee of the House of 
Commons, which was then sitting upon " Agricultural 
Distress." The members of the Select Committee do 
not appear to have been more overburdened with 
courtesy towards their witnesses than members of 
similar committees occasionally are in the present day. 
Eobert Hope was asked to give a debtor and creditor 
account of his farm for a number of years back, to 
which he replied that he " could not do that at present." 
Question. — "Do not you keep books?" — "Yes." "Could 
not you give in to the Committee an account of all 
your outgoings and all your incomings for the last ten 
years ?" — "ISTo, I could not do that, and at any rate it is 
out of the question, I am so far from home." " Perhaps 
you are afraid of showing your landlord how prosperous 
you are?" — "Not in the least; we have no reason to 
be afraid of that." They certainly had not. 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON ADAM. 

" Tavistock Hotel, Covent Garden, London, 
2lst April 1836. 

" You will no doubt be a little surprised both with 
the place from which this is addressed, and also by the 
channel through which I hope it will reach you. It is 
possible you may, before this comes to your hands, 
have heard, by the packet sent by the Leith vessel some 
weeks ago, that I expected to go to London. If you 
have not yet received that packet, you will please to 
understand that there is a Committee of the House of 
Commons sitting on Agricultural Distress, and that Mr. 
Andrew Howden, Lawhead, Mr. Brodie, Amesfield 
Mains, and myself, were — through Mr. Ferguson, our 



44 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Member, I presume — summoned to appear before the 
said Committee. We left home last Wednesday, 
arrived in London here last Saturday, and are still, for 
causes to be stated, living in this hotel. Well, on the 
Sunday we, by appointment, waited on our excellent 
Member, who introduced us to Mr. Loch, the Member 
for the Caithness Burghs, and who is a member of the 
Committee. Mr. Loch introduced us to Mr. Lefevre, 
who is Chairman of the Committee, and we were 
ordered to be in the lobby of the House by twelve 
o'clock on Tuesday last. We were not ten minutes in 
the lobby when I was called in, first of our party, 
before said Committee, when for upwards of two hours 
I was questioned on many points relating to our con- 
dition as farmers, by first one, then another, and others, 
that you could hardly have expected I would have had 
nerve to stand up against the business. But neverthe- 
less I passed the ordeal in a manner beyond what I 
ever expected. My account of our situation was quite 
new to them, when ... I informed the Committee 
that all the farmers with us on corn rents were in com- 
fortable circumstances, and that, were the system of 
grain rents common, we could (that is, all such with 
grain rents) make a fair shift, even although wheat 
should not exceed 40s. per quarter. That I may have 
made some mistakes I believe is likely enough, yet I 
certainly have had compliments paid to me that are far 
beyond whatever I dreamt of. If ever I can get a 
copy of my own replies to the questions of the Com- 
mittee, it will be a pleasure to me to send it to you, my 
dear Adam, that you may see what I really have said. 
After, me Mr. Howden was called in, and yesterday 
Mr. Brodie passed his examination. . . . Well, next to 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 45 

what we have been seeing: — On Tuesday, after my 
trial, Mr. Ferguson made his appearance, and took us 
first into the body of the House of Commons, and 
afterwards into the body of the House of Lords, merely 
for a few minutes, to see how matters were conducted. 
We have also attended the committee-room of the 
Dublin election, as you may have heard of the attempt 
to unseat Mr. O'Connell. We saw also all the Courts 
of Law in Westminster, and yesterday evening we dined 
with Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson, where we met his brother 
Sir Eonald, Mr. Loch, and Mr. Steuart, our Haddington 
Member. We met with great kindness, and were 
gratified with Mr. Steuart, one of the Lords of the 
Treasury, pressing us to dine with him to-morrow 
evening in the House of Commons, when, as an induce- 
ment, he would make it a point to introduce us to Mr. 
Eice, the Chancellor of the Exchequer : and Mr. Fer- 
guson also said he would join us on the occasion. You 
will observe that we are to be under the gallery of 
the House by the order of the Speaker, through Mr. 
Ferguson's kindness, so you see what attention we have 
met with. And further, Mr. Steuart insisted that we 
shall wait in London till Saturday, which is an idle 
day with him, when we are to be shown all that he, 
as one of the Lords of the Treasury, can show us, such 
as the Mint, Treasury Chambers, etc. Now, the thing 
that induced me to accede to Mr. Steuart's very kind 
invitation was the opportunity it afforded me of writing 
this letter to you, as the excellent General, Sir Eonald 
Ferguson, told me, when I spoke of sending a letter to 
you, that if I would send it to him under cover, he 
would forward it to you along with despatches to his 



46 MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 

regiment in Canada, and that is the channel through 
which I hope this will reach you. 

"We saw the crops through the whole road from 
home much chilled with the continual rain that has 
distinguished this spring. Vegetation about fifty miles 
north from this is further advanced than with us, but 
the rest of England is not materially different. We 
were all well when I left home, as I expect to find them 
on my return, although your mother, I am sorry to say, 
does not gather strength very fast. 

" I was this day in Guildhall, and saw the Lord 
Mayor and Council engaged in Court. ... I have also 
within the last three hours been in the Thames Tunnel, 
fully half-way across the river. It is a most splendid 
undertaking. They are throng with the work, making, 
as we were told, about one yard a day. . . . 

"Saturday morning. — So we were in the body of 
the House of Commons, and heard the debate on what 
I may call Mr. O'Connell's second trial for the same 
offence. We dined with the Chancellor, Mr. S., Mr. F., 
and Mr. Fox Maule, within the time of the debate. 
The Chancellor is a beautiful speaker, but Sir E. Peel 
is, without doubt, an extraordinary orator. The busi- 
ness was made a mere party question. We left when 
the House was to divide, so I did not see the result, 
although I think Ministers would carry it, as they 
appeared to be more numerous than their opponents. 
We are to start for home to-morrow morning by 
Glo'ster, Chester, and Liverpool. I have no time or 
room for more. ..." 

Alluding to his father's examination by the Com- 
mittee, George Hope writes : " It is quite current in 



MEMOIlt OF GEOKGE HOPE. 47 

the county that my father did well, and floored cross- 
questioners." 

Whatever was the result of the Committee's delibera- 
tions, it does not seem to have had any effect in 
lessening agricultural distress. 

In the summer of this year (1836) George Hope 
paid his first visit to England, and judging from the 
extent of ground which he got over in a short space of 
time, he must have travelled night and day. Starting 
from Haddington by coach at nine in the morning of 
the 7th June, he arrived at York in time for breakfast 
on the following morning. Thus far he thought the 
land poor and badly farmed, but between York and 
Doncaster (to which town he next proceeded) he con- 
sidered the land good, and, upon the whole, well 
cultivated, although, he says, " occasionally we saw 
from three to five horses in a plough, all in a string, 
doing the work of a horse and an ass. The carts were 
all very ill- constructed, being large and clumsy, with 
wooden axletrees ; no single horse is fit to drag them. 
However, they always yoke from three to six horses, 
the one before the other. We saw a man spreading 
manure out of a cart, and his horses all standing till he 
got it neatly shaken out." After leaving Doncaster he 
speaks of passing " the infamous town of East Eetford, 
which procured for us the passing of the Eeform Bill;" 
and from thence he proceeded to Newark; but there 
his description of his journey ceases. He promises to 
give an account of the remainder of it in his next 
letter, but he had either omitted to fulfil this promise 
or the letter had gone astray. 



48 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 



FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON ADAM. 

" 27th September 1836. 

" Your kind and every way gratifying letter of the 
14th August reached me on Friday last. I believe I 
am rather in arrears with my writing to you, but my 
mind has been much occupied of late with anxiety and 
painful anticipations. First, your mother has been 
extremely ill for the last three weeks. ... I am greatly 
afraid there is but little prospect of a speedy amend- 
ment, but a wise and merciful God rules and orders 
everything for the best, and with his blessing your 
poor mother may yet again cheer our hearts by taking 
her place at the fireside as usual. Secondly, I think 
I lately told you that your uncle. Adam was seriously ill, 
and it is now painful indeed for me to tell you that he is 
no more. His death makes a heavy blank in society 
here, as few men stood higher in public estimation, 
and none deserved to occupy a higher position. Such 
being the case, you will not be surprised that it is 
with a heavy heart I sit down to communicate our 
actual condition, and my consequent feelings to you, 
my dear Adam ; for, as your letters are ever a source 
of unmixed happiness to all of us here, so it is some- 
thing like a relief to my mind, after two very melancholy 
days, to inform you, who I know will sympathise with 
us in all our afflictions, what has been, and still is, our 
actual position. Yesterday we attended the funeral of 
your uncle, and to-day George and I have been again 
at Linplum, as we are two of the trustees appointed 
by your uncle's will to attend to the interests of his 
young family. There is much important business to 
settle, and it will require both time and labour, as well 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 49 

as judgment, to do it correctly; but if I am spared 
health it shall have my most zealous endeavours to 
bring it to a satisfactory termination. I was glad to 
see you were pleased with my Notes and Manufactures, 
etc., of England. I have gotten a copy of my own 
examination before the Committee of Parliament, but 
as not one word of it has ever been corrected, either 
before or after it came through the press, it is anything 
but satisfactory. 

" You know George is tenant of Linkhouse. He, after 
a struggle, is enrolled on it as a voter in the county." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" 21th September 1836. 
" I have been much to blame in not writing you 
according to promise. I intended giving you a full 
description of the meeting of the Scottish Unitarian 
Association. Dr. Drummond from Dublin preached 
twice — excellent discourses. Mr. Martineau from 
Liverpool, a brother of Miss Martineau's, preached 
once — one hour and twenty-five minutes. He is elo- 
quent, but he preached far too long, and upon a subject 
not agreed upon by Unitarians. [It was said that Mr. 
Martineau preached for this length of time under the 
impression that the Scotch liked long sermons.] On 
the Monday evening the meeting was held in the 
chapel. . . . ' Our ain man ' was the cream of the whole. 
I asked Mr. Harris to come out to Fenton Barns. He 
stayed a night with us. He is dignified and grave, 
and his mind is wholly occupied with the cause of 
Unitarianism. Very great have been his sacrifices for 
the cause of truth. On the Sunday he preached in 
Edinburgh the chapel could not hold the people." 

D 



50 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

On the 8th of October 1836 Mrs. Eobert Hope died. 
Her life had been one of much hardship, and her troubles 
and anxieties had been many and great. She had been 
an invalid for six years, during which time her son 
George had attended and watched over her with un- 
wearying care. 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON ADAM. 

" You will, no doubt, long before this reaches you, 
have gotten my last two letters, by which you would 
learn my painful bereavement, and your and the rest 
of the family's irreparable loss of your dear and ever 
affectionate mother; as also of your uncle's death at 
Linplum, which leaves me comparatively alone, deprived 
of the disinterested affection and regard of the two on 
earth to whom, with the greatest confidence, I could 
ever turn for consolation or advice under any or all of 
the anxieties and ills to which, in this transitory scene, 
we are liable. Yet, after all, it is in one sense only a 
memento to me to be ready in my turn, as a few short 
years, at most, will lay me beside the remains of your 
now departed excellent mother." 

To George Hope his mother's death was a great grief, 
and it was a lifelong regret to him that she had been 
forced from poverty to do without many little things 
which she would have liked. Twenty years after her 
death he wrote : " I often think how our dear mother 
used to toil and save, and wish to get trifling things for 
the house. You may recollect how anxious she was 
for a new dining-table, and never got it. I am certain 
had she been spared till now her wishes would have 
been gratified to the full." 



CHAPTEE V. 



Tis gone, and for ever, the light we saw breaking, 
Like Heaven's first dawn o'er the sleep of the dead, 
When Man, from the slumber of ages awaking, 
Looked upward, and bless'd the pure ray ere it fled. 
'Tis gone, and the gleams it has left of its burning 
But deepen the long night of bondage and mourning, 
That dark o'er the kingdoms of earth is returning, 
And darkest of all, hapless Erin, o'er thee.— T. Moore. 



FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, 3d December 1836. 
"It is the general opinion that there must be an 
election, a general election, next spring or early in 
summer. Lord Eamsay is spoken of as the Tory candi- 
date for this county ; indeed, by attending and speechi- 
fying at Mason Lodges, etc. etc., he evidently is doing 
what he can to be popular. Yet it is the opinion of 
many of the Tories themselves that he will not do, as 
he is somehow or other not a general favourite ; but I 
feel apprehensive even should he be their candidate, as 
they, the Tories, have left no stone unturned to secure 
a majority in the county, by making fictitious votes and 
otherwise. That they have a majority of supporters of 
Tory principles is, I am afraid, certain ; but some of 
them are said to be men who will not oppose Mr. 
Ferguson ; others dislike Lord Eamsay ; still, if a popular 
candidate on their side starts, the result will be very 



52 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

doubtful. It is vexatious to think of the manner in 
which the independent voters of the county have been, 
or at least are threatened to be, swamped by a set of 
fictitious voters who are fraudulently imposed on our 
constituency. ... I try not to allow my mind to rest 
too much on my now comparatively lonely condition, 
for which purpose I use my pen frequently. . . . George 
is well, and we go on from day to day quietly enough, 
seeing nor meddling with neither one nor another. I am 
wearying for a newspaper from you. ... A letter from 
you is ever as a day of sunshine without a single cloud. — 
Your ever affectionate father, Kobert Hope." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" 5th December. 

"... I believe you know I got registered on Link- 
house " [a tract of sandy land close to the sea]. " I was 
two days at the registration court about it, and would 
have failed had J. Anderson and F. Blair not been there 
— summoned by the Tories to disprove my claim. I 
took them to prove my possession. From what my 
father says you will see that Lord Eamsay is expected 
to be the Tory candidate. I am not in the least afraid 
of him. Many people that voted for Mr. Hope won't 
do the same for him ; but there is just one thing, — Mr. 
Ferguson is too liberal for his constituency. I am sure 
you would be much pleased with his speeches. 

"... I was kept on a jury trial for three days on 
Hallow Fair week. I got £2, however, for my trouble, 
and I stayed in Edinburgh over Sunday, which allowed 
me to hear three sermons from Mr. S. in St. Mark's 
Chapel." 

The jury trial to which he here alludes is probably 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 53 

the same in which he had for a fellow-juryman one 
Charles Eunciman, a carrier from Dirleton. Every 
night Charles rode home (twenty miles) on a cart-horse, 
and he returned to Edinburgh in the same manner in time 
for the next day's proceedings. As riding forty miles 
upon a cart-horse occupied the greater part of the night, 
the equestrian had no time for sleeping, unless during 
the trial ; and the rather fatiguing mode of travelling 
which he had chosen probably added to the duration of 
his slumbers ; but he had made up his mind that what- 
ever was George Hope's decision in the case should be 
his decision also, and as he daily settled himself to 
sleep he would say, " Mind I trust to you, Mr. George, 
I trust to you." He would then slumber peacefully 
until the close of the proceedings. 

In the letter just quoted, George Hope also mentions 
that the last number of the Journal of Agriculture con- 
tains some remarks on his father's improved method 
of placing the scutches of the threshing-machine. 
Eobert Hope obtained, a silver medal from the Highland 
Society for this invention. His inventions in the way 
of machinery were numerous, but they were not often 
very successful, in consequence, he always maintained, 
of the stupidity of the country tradesmen in not making 
the articles which they fabricated under his directions 
sufficiently strong ; at any rate the machinery which 
he invented generally broke on being put to use. 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, 8th January 1837. 

"... The county has been for some time back going 
through the fiery ordeal of an active canvass. The Tory 
candidate is found in the person of Lord Eamsay, whom 



54 MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 

you may probably recollect I assisted in black-balling 
on his wishing to become a member of the Agricultural 
Society, he having, at a dinner of our Society, told us 
that he considered himself and the other landlords our 
superiors, the tenants being their dependants. This 
individual, however, is backed up and supported by 
many of these same dependants. I do sincerely pity 
them ; nothing can relieve them from their degrading 
bondage but the Ballot, and that, thank God, there is 
now some prospect of our obtaining. Our present bene- 
volent and enlightened representative has been for some 
time back a declared advocate for it, and it is now 
pretty generally believed that it will be made a Govern- 
ment question on the opening of the Session in the end 
of the month, when you will see petitions poured in 
from all quarters of the island for that mode of voting, 
and the Lords compelled to pass the Bill. It would be 
curious enough were the voting at the very next elec- 
tion to be by ballot. I would not then have the least 
fear for Mr. Ferguson's election, were not another indi- 
vidual to vote but those whose names are at the requi- 
sition to Lord Eamsay. I know the private opinions 
of so many of them, that I feel sure that nothing but 
pressure from without could have made their names 
be adhibited to that document. At the Christmas 
meeting of our association Lord Eamsay was again 
proposed as a member, and it is not intended at present 
to make any opposition to his Lordship being admitted ; 
not but that he could be easily served in the same way 
again, but simply from prudential motives with regard to 
the interest of the Society, for were such a thing again 
to take place it might be the means of breaking up the 
Society, which I have no wish to see even tried. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 55 

" I daresay in almost every letter you receive from 
this you ' get intelligence of our efforts in the way of 
tile-draining. I am inclined to think we pay 100 per 
cent, more than prime cost for drain-tiles, and having a 
bed of the finest clay ourselves, lying at the east end of 
Fenton Barns Muir, and across the whole of the Pud- 
denbutts, we have resolved to erect a kiln and burn the 
tiles ourselves. Mr. Donaldson approves of our inten- 
tion, but thinks my father should apply to Mrs. 
Ferguson herself for leave ; her permission I have not 
the least doubt of obtaining." 

This winter, of 1836-37, was remarkably long and 
hard. Writing in January, Eobert Hope says : " You 
would hear of our snow-storm in October; we had 
another in November, and at present the ground is 
covered, the fall of a fortnight ago being continued, 
with a gloomy atmosphere, most dreary and threaten- 
ing. Coals are scarce, a necessary consequence of such 
weather, and that and the high price of provisions 
together gives ominous promise of a hard winter for the 
poor." 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON ADAM. 

" Fenton Barns, 23d April 1837. 
" I was truly delighted last Sunday by the receipt 
of your kind and interesting letter. George had gone 
to Edinburgh on the day mentioned, to hear ]\Tr. 
Harris, from Glasgow. Your letter arrived when I was 
by myself, and to me it was a feast beyond what per- 
haps any other circumstance I could look for in this 
world at the time could have afforded. Before this 
reaches you, you will in all probability have fixed on 
the place of your future residence, but I earnestly hope, 



56 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

nay, I advise, urge, and beg of you, to beware bow you 
tbink of settling without a reference to the healthiness 
of the situation, as beyond every other consideration is 
that of your health, as without it what is wealth, how- 
ever abundant ? You have not, however, said anything 
about cash to enable you to begin business on your 
own account. I am sensible of your truly independent 
feelings of every sort, and your kind, considerate, and 
affectionate regard for my feelings, in not troubling me 
for money when you know of the difficulties in that 
respect I have long had to encounter. My most 
affectionate regard in return is, in some degree, all I 
have to give, . . . yet I flatter myself that before har- 
vest I may be able to give you, my dear Adam, some 
small assistance, to the extent, at least, of a couple of 
hundred dollars. I admit the sum is trifling, still, if 
such will be of service, and if I can spare it, you may 
let me know, and it will be hard indeed if I cannot 
make a shift to send it out to you. 

" It is of comparatively little consequence what 
papers you send, as I do not agree in opinion with 
either of your party politicians, but it is more on account 
of their giving me regular intimation of your welfare, — 
being all addressed by yourself, — that I prize them so 
much, than for any other cause, although I certainly 
feel a deep interest in all your political concerns also. 
I Jiope, therefore, you will continue to employ that 
cheap means of telling us regularly how you are. 

" We have had the most extraordinary weather ever 
remembered : frost and snow, even here, without inter- 
mission till last week, and up at Lammermuir there 
was not a black spot to be seen for months till within 
these few days. The deaths from starvation, amongst 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 57 

stock, are said to be prodigiously great. For ourselves, 
we have about fifteen score of lambs, and all the flock 
of ewes, dependent entirely on linseed-cake for two 
months past ; we never had any experience of the thing 
before, but only for the cake and our whole stock 
would have been starved. You may judge of our state 
when I inform you that our consumption of the article 
is a ton in three days. We have gotten within the last 
six weeks no less than twelve tons, at from £8, 10s. to 
£10, 10s., and we have not ten days' provision on hand ! 
We have done nothing to the building of our tile-kiln 
as yet, in consequence of the terrible weather prevent- 
ing the making of the brick for the work. 

" You will have heard of the recent convulsion in the 
money market here, and it is said the prospects on your 
side of the Atlantic will soon be more alarming. This 
day twelvemonths I started from London ; the whole 
commercial and manufacturing world were then in the 
greatest apparent prosperity. Now, dear markets for 
the necessaries of life, and men thrown out of employ- 
ment, are the constant themes. . . . 

"I feel my letters are filled with a good deal of 
trifling matter, yet, as your letters afford me such un- 
mixed happiness, perhaps you will not grudge mine to 
you, that also afford me a pleasing, yet in some degree 
a melancholy, few hours' employment, in telling you 
all our little affairs, when, with the exception of George, 
there are few either to hear me, or care whither or 
when I come or go now in the world." 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

" My last letter would tell you of our elections and 
political prospects. [The county election had resulted 



58 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

in the defeat of Mr. Ferguson, Lord Ramsay winning 
by a majority of 93. The 'political emancipation of 
East Lothian/ over which there had been such rejoicing, 
had, alas ! endured but for a short space, and the Tory 
thraldom into which it had once more sunk, has been 
destined to last for many long years.] 

" Our Eegistration Court sat lately, and much wrang- 
ling and debate ensued. The Liberals, for the first 
time, have made a number of fictitious votes ; but it is 
a bad system, although self-defence compels even those 
that object to it on principle to adopt it, so long as it 
is the law of the land. You will have seen by the 
newspapers how parties stand in this country. Eng- 
land is Tory, but Scotland and Ireland will, notwith- 
standing, give a working majority to Ministers. We 
have, however, been more engaged about our harvest 
of late than with politics. ... I have repeatedly 
mentioned our tile -work to you ; it still goes well on, 
as we are in the regular practice of burning a kiln 
every week, which holds about 11,000 tiles, and all of 
which are readily sold as we can spare them." 

The enterprise of draining the farm was done at the 
tenants' own expense, £300 excepted. Eeckoning the 
tiles used in the drainage at the sale price, the sum 
expended on tiles and cutting the drains was upwards 
of £2500. 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" Fenton Barns, 21st September 1837. 

" We have settled down, so far, after the hurry of the 

elections. The registration at Haddington was held 

ten days ago. My name was used as an objector against 

the Tories : I am what is called Objector- General. I 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 59 

was three days at Haddington about the business, 
although it was harvest. You would see that Mr. 
Steuart, the M.P. for the Haddington Burghs, was rather 
closely run, and as every effort was and is making to 
unseat him, my father and I have purchased a property 
in Haddington, from Mrs. Hislop, which gives us both 
votes, although we cannot get on the roll till next year. 
North Berwick was the only burgh in Scotland where 
the electors were unanimous, the whole, twenty- five in 
number, voting for Steuart. 

" I do not know how it is, but here we always keep 
from hand to mouth ; the tile- work, indeed, has swal- 
lowed up a great deal of money, and our farm is much 
improved ; but so much remains to be done, there is 
room for such an immense sum being profitably ex- 
pended on it, that I see but small prospect of any 
accumulation being made to enable me to ' try my hand ' 
myself. However, there is nothing for it but to submit. 
If the tile-work continues to pay as well as it is doing 
we should get rich. Our crop this year is, I think, a fair 
average." 

In a letter written about this time, Mr. Adam Hope 
expresses strong objections to O'Connell, who, he avers, 
had, after denouncing Buthven, the candidate for Kil- 
dare, as " a perjurer and a swindler," endeavoured to 
induce him to retire from the contest for that county, 
by promising to do everything in his power to obtain 
for him a colonial appointment. That O'Connell should 
consider " a perjurer and swindler " good enough for an 
official appointment in the colonies did, in the opinion 
of Mr. Adam Hope, " unmask him as a man utterly 
destitute of everything like a single idea of correct 
principle." To this his brother George replies : 



60 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

" There must be some mistake ; he must have wanted 
to send Euthven to Botany Bay. I feel confident you 
have seen a partial or one-sided account of the business ; 
for my part, I only heard that O'Connell had denounced 
Euthven for standing, and thus trying to split the 
Liberals, but that from O'Connell's influence he had not 
succeeded. I have no fear that you will ever join the 
Tories, but I cannot conceal from myself that you are 
getting more Conservative than you were wont to be." 

The Canadian Eebellion occasioned considerable 
anxiety at Fenton Barns, on account of Mr. Adam 
Hope, who had joined a volunteer corps and marched 
against the rebels. He, however, escaped scathless 
from the campaign, for the enemy was found to have 
fled on his corps reaching the spot where it was sup- 
posed to be encamped, a result at which he expressed 
satisfaction. George Hope writes : " I do not see why 
all the grievances complained of by the insurgents 
should not be redressed, yet I see no reason to fight. 
The grievances are not of a character that I would be 
fond of risking my life for a chance of having them re- 
dressed : nothing but absolute desperation should drive 
people to redress grievances by civil war, and then they 
should be of that kind that civil war is the least evil." 
Again he writes : " I hope that a general amnesty and 
healing measures, under the auspices of that friend of 
liberty — Lord Durham — will soon cause a complete 
recovery from that brain-fever which has so unfortu- 
nately paralysed the energies of your adopted land. It 
is difficult to say when an appeal to arms is at all justi- 
fiable. I should say in the present stage of society 
that there is no period, as long as you have a free press, 
and can act on all men with the power of reason and 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 61 

the strength of moral energy, as long as you recognise 
in man the image of his Maker, capable of being oper- 
ated on by the force of truth and Christian love." 

In 1838, Lord Eamsay being called to the House of 
Peers on succeeding to the title of Earl of Dalhousie, a 
new election for the county of East Lothian took place. 
Of the proceedings at this election George Hope gives 
the following account : " The Tories were not a little 
astonished to find part of the hustings in possession 
of the Whigs, with Sir D. Baird at their head. After 
the Tory candidate [Sir T. B. Hepburn] had been pro- 
posed and seconded by two of the feeblest of their 
party, Sir D. Baird asked Sir Thomas if he meant to 
support the Melbourne Administration. 'You are 
stopping the proceedings,' quoth Sir Thomas ; ' elect 
me first, and I will tell you afterwards.' I then 
stepped forward and said that Sir Thomas had sent me 
a circular saying he was to call and explain his senti- 
ments, and answer any questions that might be put to 
him, but that he had never done so. As this was the 
first time I had seen him, and as I wished to know his 
sentiments on some points, I begged to put a few ques- 
tions to him, and I said it might depend on his answers 
whether another candidate was proposed or not. I 
asked him, Would he support a bill against bribery and 
corruption, and the intimidation of voters ; in other 
words, a bill for vote by ballot ? On this he turned 
quite pale, and got much agitated. He turned round 
and consulted his friends, but Sir D. Baird shook his 
head and said it would not do ; upon which Sir Thomas 
gathered courage, and appealed to the Sheriff, who said 
that I could ask him as many questions as I chose, but 
he had no power to compel him to answer. Some of 



62 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

the Tory papers, in their leaders, say it was a piece of 
impertinence in me to presume to frighten the Honour- 
able and learned Baronet. We afterwards had a good 
deal of stuff from him about America. Sir D. Baird 
followed with a splendid speech, delivered with such 
oratorical skill as won him the admiration of all present. 
I never saw such a melancholy group as the Tories were 
while Sir David was delivering his speech ; it exhibited 
such a striking contrast to Sir Thomas's attempt. Yes- 
terday, in Haddington market, many of them were quite 
angry at the Whigs making their appearance on the 
hustings." Although the Liberals made this demon- 
stration, they permitted Sir Thomas Buchan Hepburn 
to be elected without opposition. " It is folly," writes 
George Hope, " to expect that counties are to return 
Liberal members unless we get the ballot, or in some 
way release the poor tenants from the domination of 
the Tory lairds." 

Eobert Hope frequently advises his son Adam to 
have as little to do with politics as possible. " Politics," 
he says, " generally speaking, are alike harassing and 
unprofitable. A Liberal in politics is almost certain of 
merely making enemies by attempting to beard those 
who are in possession of the loaves and fishes, and 
merely gets credit for a desire to fill their places. . . . 
To be aiming at reform in the midst of a community 
wholly given up to selfishness is at all times a bootless 
task indeed." 

" You will pretty regularly get the agricultural re- 
port. In the last, allusion is made to several farmers' 
sales of their stocking. Amongst others is Mr. A. 
Brodie, who has been, I may say, dismissed from Coal- 
ston Mains as if he had been some useless mortal, when 



. MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 63 

the truth is he has managed his farm in a style equal 
to the best in the county, and as he paid his rent, his 
having followed the foxhounds in a scarlet coat might 
have been passed over without exciting the bile of any 
Tory landlord whatever. Our present M.P., Sir T. B. 
Hepburn, likewise dismissed his late tenant of Harper- 
dean because of his politics. Were matters to continue 
as they have hitherto been, we had better, as farmers, 
never have had the franchise without the ballot, as the 
system would, to all appearance, render the tenants 
mere tools, as a body, while those who might attempt 
to have and to avow a sense of honour and a feeling of 
conscience, will have to leave their occupations alto- 
gether." 

In June 1838, Eobert Hope writes: "You will no 
doubt remember the circumstance of me getting the 
stock on the farm of Fenton Barns when I entered to 
the farm ; I have now the pleasure of saying that the 
thing is now fairly settled, as only last Friday I got up 
my bond of obligation for said stock, and am now free 
and clear of all claims and encumbrances." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"ithjune 1838. 

" I see my father has told you that he has got clear 
of the bond for the stocking ; in fact, when he settled 
with Mr. Donaldson last Friday, and got his counter 
claim for building, etc., all adjusted, Mrs. Ferguson was 
found owing my father £20, 7s. 6d., which Mr. D. paid 
him. That this business has been at last settled has 
made us all very happy. My father asked Mr. D. to 
dine with us on Saturday, which he at once agreed to 
do, and we expect a number of our neighbours also. 



64 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

"John delivered a capital sermon at Fenton last 
Sunday. Almost every inhabitant of the village was 
present, and they were much pleased. On Sunday 
eight days he intends to deliver a lecture on the 
Trinity at West Fenton in the mill barn. 

" You must contrive to send a letter by the steamers 
which have so successfully crossed and recrossed the 
Atlantic. They have again set sail for the western 
world, but I will endeavour to let you have a letter by 
the next. It has created more sensation among all 
classes than you could have imagined." 

FROM MR. CHARLES HOPE TO HIS BROTHER JOHN. 

" Our men had their supper last night ; you recollect 
they got the premium for the neatest stackyard. The 
brickmen were there as well. Kichard Fowler pro- 
posed Adam's health, and that he might ' be quite safe 
in these critical times/ We thought it very good for 
Eichard. H. Bertram proposed your health, and that 
you 'might have a clear understanding and a sound 
judgment.' " 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, 1th March 1839. 
" Our crop of wheat has not turned well out, and our 
rent is iniquitously high. . . . To-morrow is our rent- 
day ; it is true we are ready for it, but I am not so sure 
about the next half-year's rent, which falls due at 
Lammas. I think we should be able to meet it, but we 
shall not do more ; our farm expenses have been dread- 
ful. . . . This constant expenditure keeps us, so to 
speak, with our noses at the grinding- stone. You are 
better off with your business than if you farmed half 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 65 

this parish. As to when I may get something better 
than Linkhouse to call my own I know not ; there is 
very little prospect at present. It is now within a 
month of ten years since 1 left Haddington, and there 
is not much more appearance of such a thing at present 
than there was then. I was a fool to have had any- 
thing to do with the business at the first. 

" You may have seen from the newspapers that there 
was a meeting at Haddington in favour of the Corn 
Laws. I wrote a letter to Samuel Smiles, who is now 
editor of the Leeds Times, with an account of the same, 
also with some strictures on the meeting and on the 
Corn Laws generally, and Smiles published it, but the 
paper not being generally read here, few people knew 
anything about it." 

George Hope had, throughout his whole life, to take 
an immense amount of trouble with other people's 
affairs, for he was burdened with many relations who 
were constantly in pecuniary difficulties ; indeed every 
relative both of his father's and mother's (of their 
own generation) became at one time or other bankrupt. 
For eight or nine years he superintended the farm of 
one of these relatives who had died insolvent, and for 
whom he was a trustee. In this matter, as in others of 
a similar nature, he seemed to have had all the trouble, 
while some at least of the other trustees did nothing 
but find fault with what he did. At this time he 
sincerely wishes he was done with the business, and 
declares that he will " never act in such capacity again 
unless paid for it." This resolution he was very far 
from keeping, as he continued all his life to perform a 
great deal of the same kind of thankless labour. Ee- 
ferring to his insolvent relatives, Kobert Hope writes : 

E 



66 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

" Through life I have ever found it a strong proof of 
well- doing in individuals when I have found a readiness 
on their part to speak of their private business. Yes, 
often have I seen, nay, I may say always, that such has 
been the case with our unfortunate friends, that little 
intercourse, and not one word on their affairs, have 
invariably marked their conduct before matters came 
with them to extremity. . . . My father used to tell 
me that he had seen the most industrious and steady 
men frequently sore beset and overtaken with diffi- 
culties, but never in his life had he known an instance 
of a man being fairly overcome if he resolutely perse- 
vered, with honesty, industry, and economy, aided by 
health, as such principles in active operation invariably 
overcome all obstacles in the long-run." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" Fenton Barns, 6th August 1839. 
"A page has been left for my news. ... In my 
last I gave you an account of my journey through Fife 
to Dundee, Carse of Gowrie, and Perth. . . . C. Shireff 
and I agreed to start for Islay to see George Chiene, so 
on the Wednesday morning I left this, rode to Edin- 
burgh, and sold my cattle, lodged the money in the 
bank, and went by the coach to Glasgow that night, 
then took the steamboat to Tarbert, walked little more 
than a mile across the isthmus, and got the Islay 
steamer, waiting for passengers, which landed us on the 
island of Islay. We arrived at George Chiene's house 
at nine o'clock at night, and got a hearty welcome. 
We rode daily about thirty or forty miles, and got 
through the most of the island. It contains upwards of 
20,000 inhabitants. I was, on the whole, much pleased 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 67 

with the island. There were capital crops where the 
land was farmed at all ; Swedish turnips meeting on 
the drills, superb potatoes, and strong oats and barley. 
There was only one field of wheat on the island. There 
are plenty of stones to drain, sea- ware and shell- sand, 
which latter is a most invaluable manure that I never 
saw before. . . . Friday first is our rent- day, I am 
happy to say that we can meet it." 

In June 1839 he writes to his brother Charles (who 
had gone to Canada in the spring of that year) an 
account of a public meeting which took place in Edin- 
burgh during Macaulay's candidature for that city. He 
says : — " As I had to go into Edinburgh on Tuesday at 
any rate, I thought we might as well take the gig, and go 
away earlier and see what was going on. There was an 
immense concourse of people, and a number of Chartists, 
who had placed themselves directly before the hustings, 
made such a noise that it was not easy hearing what the 
Whig party said, although Mr. Eraser and little Tommy 
Grant, coffin- maker in the Cowgate, were listened to 
with all politeness. They were frantic when the show 
of hands was in favour of Macaulay ; the people round 
about me endeavoured to hold down my hands, but I 
was not to be put down in that way, I was in Edin- 
burgh the week before, and heard Macaulay deliver his 
first address in George Street Assembly Eooms. I 
never heard anything finer; the calmness, ease, and 
fluency were very remarkable. He is rather short, 
stout, and swarthy, his face beaming with kindness 
and intelligence ; he has not a very high forehead, but 
it is remarkable in breadth, projecting very much above 
the eyebrows." 



68 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 



FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, 22d August 1839. 
"By this day eight days we expect to be busily 
engaged in the labours of the harvest ; although the 
crop looks well on the ground, I have doubts of its 
giving so well, there has been such a want of sun and 
heat, but I hope fervently to be mistaken. John writes 
you he has delivered a sermon at Haddington. The 
room was quite crowded ; some went away unable to 
get admittance. John seemed to make a considerable 
impression ; he has that essential requisite for an 
orator, a good delivery. The second last number of 
the Anti- Corn-Law Circular took notice of my father's 
evidence before the Parliamentary Committee to show 
the iniquitous effects of the law. As we have two 
numbers of the last one, I send you a copy to let you 
see what it is." 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

" Monday, \Qth September. 

"The weather has not been very favourable for 
harvest operations. It rained in torrents all Saturday, 
and up to some time last night. To-day it is fair, 
although not looking well, and we are busy shearing, 
though the corn is quite wet, and the land as soft as it 
can be. I am thankful we have got a few wheat stacks 
in the barn-yard, but by far the larger half is in the 
fields. I am much pleased with the way in which the 
wheat we have threshed has turned out, but you must 
understand it is from our best fields. Our bad wheat 
is all after beans. . . . We intend going to the October 
Tryst, and expect to be able to have cash to purchase 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 69 

both cattle and sheep, but we shall have to be diligent 
in the threshing. 

"John and I were at Haddington last night. He 
then finished his four discourses on Unitarianism. The 
room each time has been quite crammed ; it holds about 
140; it has been a successful campaign." 

These letters from George Hope and his father to 
his brothers in Canada are closely written on enormous 
sheets of paper, and are generally " crossed " all over in 
red or green ink. They always contain minute accounts 
of the state of the crops on all the different fields on 
Fenton Barns. Those who knew George Hope only at 
a later period of his life can scarcely imagine the intense 
anxiety with which, for many years after he commenced 
farming, he watched the weather and the crops. He 
has often spoken of his feelings of nervous terror when 
he fancied he heard the wind rising after the corn was 
ready for cutting. In after years he took the weather 
and the state of the crops very calmly ; scarcely any 
amount of rain would disturb him, and no possible 
duration of drought. In the remarkably dry summer 
of 1869, when farmers throughout the country were 
universally calling for rain, and saying that there had 
not been a drop for months, he would remind them 
of a shower which had taken place one afternoon, and 
never would admit that rain was required ; grass and 
turnips he allowed would be improved by it, but corn, 
he said, was " much better without it ; if fields were 
properly manured they could stand a great deal of dry 
weather." 



70 MEMOIK OF GEORGE HOPE. 



FEOM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON JOHN. 

" 1st February 1840. 

" My dear John, — After returning from Haddington 
market I sit down to write you this short letter, and in 
the first place I have to express something like surprise 
that we have not heard from you by carrier for these 
two weeks past. Your packet with Adam's letter came 
to hand as I wrote you, last Monday, as also your post 
letter, but nothing by Charles Eunciman. In my note 
of Monday I said there were £3, but on the back of 
said note I wrote two, as you would notice. The truth 
was, when I came to the desk I found two all that 
could be spared. However, you will find a pound en- 
closed, which I trust will make you independent for 
the present. You will have got to hand the pair of 
fowls by coach, and before this reaches you a visit from 

will have afforded you unqualified satisfaction. 

In your last you spoke of the newspaper quoting what 
you thought was part of my article to the New Statis- 
tical Journal ; you were right in the conjecture. I have 
been comparatively well since you left us ; still, I am 
often admonished to be on my guard. In three weeks 
I flatter myself with the prospect of again seeing Adam ; 
I need hardly say what my feelings are on this matter. 
— I am, my dear John, your affectionate father, 

" Kobert Hope." 

from mr. george hope to his brother adam. 

" Fenton Babns, 14th March 1840, 
Saturday evening. 

" My dear Adam, — We only received your letter of 
the 10th from Birmingham this forenoon, and it has, at 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 7 1 

all events, put our minds at rest as to the time you 
will probably arrive here ; because from your previous 
letters we almost imagined you might arrive here some 
days ago. I certainly was not so sanguine about this 
as my father, who tried to persuade himself that you 
would arrive every night by the North Berwick coach ; 
and out, and looking over the ' Chapel's Wa's ' to see if 
we could descry your figure, has been the business of 
more than one evening this week. We were next 
certain that you would be in Haddington yesterday, 
but we were doomed to disappointment. However, your 
letter of the 10th has put us out of suspense. Most 
sincerely do I congratulate you on your having again 
set foot in Britain's isle, but I shall not attempt to 
describe the pleasure and joy I shall feel when I shall 
be permitted to see you face to face. I hope it will 
not be many days before that happy event takes place. 
Jessie [his sister] and Mrs. C. are with us. J. was quite 
determined to be down to-day, so satisfied was she that 
you would be here ; however, she is coming back when 
you do come." 

Mr. Adam Hope arrived a few days after this, but 
did not remain long in Scotland, sailing again for 
Canada in April. 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER CHARLES. 

"August 22d, 1840. 
" I see all the previous letters have trumpeted forth 
to you my visit to the Emerald Isle. I left this on the 
28th July and was absent fifteen days. I went from 
Glasgow to Belfast, and spent a day in Belfast and 
neighbourhood. There is a railway from Belfast to 
Lisburne. I took a ride on it the length of Dun- 



72 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

murry. ... I took the coach to Castle-Bellingham in 
the county Louth ... I daresay I was through every 
corner of the county Louth. In general the land ap- 
peared very good. . . . There are a great many Scotch 
stewards, and one or two Scotch farmers, who have 
good farms and heavy crops, but the bulk of the land 
is in narrow ridges not more than three or four feet in 
width. Almost one -half of the county is under pota- 
toes. . . . Ireland is a fertile country with a poor 
people. In fact I saw villages as large as Fenton 
without a house having a pane of glass in it. In Meath 
the population is very thin, the land being almost all 
in grass, and very fine grass it appeared to be. Cattle 
that had no turnips last winter were fat on the grass. 
Iron gates seem to be in great vogue throughout Ire- 
land, as I saw many fields without any fences that had 
nevertheless fine iron gates. [At Fenton Barns the 
gates were probably hurdles fastened by pieces of rope.] 
. . . Mr. Filgate came to Dublin with me on the 
Saturday. ... On Sunday afternoon I went to King- 
ston on the railway, where all the beauty and fashion 
of Dublin were congregated, and a band of music to 
amuse the people. There was nothing to be seen but 
the crowd of people who came down by the railway, the 
steamboat, and carriages and cars innumerable. It was 
very different from anything to be seen in Scotland. I 
wish Sir Andrew Agnew had seen the scene. 

"On the Monday I heard O'Connell hold forth for 
Bepeal in the Corn Exchange. A copy of the Free- 
man's Journal, containing a full report of what was 
said, was sent you. O'Connell is a most extraordinary 
man. Though I did not agree with what he said, I 
could not help crying hurrah ! Dublin is a fine city, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 73 

hut not to be compared with Edinburgh. Sackville 
Street, which they say is the finest street in Europe, is 
long and broad, but crooked and ill-built. Many of 
the public buildings are certainly finer than any in 
Edinburgh. I left on the Tuesday morning, and got 
home on the Wednesday evening." 

The following notes, written by George Hope and his 
father to his brother John, then resident in Edinburgh, 
show their great anxiety over letters, and the value 
which they set upon them. More than once, when 
some basket or parcel has gone astray, they express 
anxiety for its recovery, only because it contains " a 
letter from America." 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON JOHN. 

" Fenton Barns, 23d November. 
" I earnestly hope this will meet you in. the evening 
returned safe and well from your labours yesterday at 
Greenock. We no doubt shall hear' from you by to- 
morrow's post, when I trust you will be particular in 
mentioning all that happened yesterday ; arid if any- 
thing should escape your memory regarding the con- 
gregation you have been addressing, you will again 
take up the subject when you next write. There are 
not the least accounts from America ; we are getting 
very anxious. Should anything be learned, you shall 
know immediately." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER JOHN. 

" My father sends you £2, which should more than 
take you to Greenock and back. What was it you said 
about not taking your expenses ? If you said so posi- 
tively, of course you will not take them, but if you 



74 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

could, you might offer it to Mr. , as, poor man, he 

must require it, with a wife and five children on £50 
per annum. There is another book you must buy for 
me, Mantell's Wonders of Geology ; you should have 
cash enough for it till I see you. I am summoned for 
a jury trial on Monday, the 6th December, and shall go 
in on the Sunday and get a preaching, and stay all 
night. We have heard nothing from America ; I am 
much disappointed." 

FROM MR. JOHN HOPE TO HIS FATHER. 

"Edinburgh, December 1840. 

" I started on Saturday at twelve for Glasgow ; took 

inside seat to , and then by railway. About three 

miles from Glasgow the engine went off the rails, over 
the bank, and fell on its side. The next coach went a 
little way down the bank, the next, which I was in, 
merely went off the rails a little way. The stokeman 
was hurled away among the snow and injured. All 
the passengers walked in to Glasgow. I started for 
Paisley at eight o'clock, and was taken there by rail- 
way in fifteen minutes. I got through the forenoon 
and evening discourses much to my satisfaction. . . . 
I left Paisley to-day at nine o'clock, started by coach 
from Glasgow at twelve, and reached here at five. 

" Why is there never anything sent in the trunk in 
the eating line ? Betty Congalton should lay violent 
hands upon a chanticleer. . . . George says I should 
not prepay Mrs. T. Now I do so out of pure economy ; 
when carrying money in my pocket, I feel tempted to 
spend, whereas, when empty, spending is out of my 
power." 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 75 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON JOHN. 

"10£A December 1840. 
" I regret to say that as yet there are no letters from 
America : we are truly anxious to hear. It is longer I 
think than at any previous period that we have been 
without letters from Adam ever since he left us ; how- 
ever, I sincerely pray the news may be satisfactory, 
come when it may, respecting both my dear sons, so far 
distant from their father's home. You would see by 
the report what was said about the distemper prevalent 
here among the cattle, and George, of course, told you 
that nothing of the kind troubled us ; well, on Monday 
morning, after I had been through the yards without 
seeing anything wrong, just when I had breakfasted, I 
got a message from the boy that he thought one of the 
cattle was ill; accordingly I went out, and to my 
amazement I saw a stot turning his tongue as if a 
turnip had stuck in his mouth. I instantly saw it 
must be the epidemic. While I looked, another showed 
signs of illness, and before one o'clock in the day all 
the twenty-one cattle in the yard were ill. Not one 
in the adjoining yard is taken ill, nor the cows either." 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

"December 18th, 1840. 

" You will perceive from the enclosed that we have 
at length had the pleasure of hearing from your brothers 
in Canada. We had another letter at the same time, 
dated 18th October, but which had been detained till 
the same mail brought them both together. We have 
fifty cattle, two cows, 280 fat sheep all diseased, although 
the cattle are mostly getting better ; besides 240 ewes 



76 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

at Linkhouse, where the malady has just appeared. It 
is no trifling affair. Our pigs too have begun to show 
symptoms. Enclosed you have £2 ; I thought one was 
what you wished, but George rather thought that two 
would be required. However, there is no need for un- 
necessary waste, although you have it, as it will easily 
keep. I shall expect to hear from you before Thursday." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER JOHN. 

"Fenton Barns, December 2\st, 1840. 

" I am glad to inform you that our stock is again 
almost free from the distemper. The cattle, I may say, 
are wholly better, and the sheep (that is the wethers, 
for they only, as yet, have had it) are again taking to 
their meat. Some of the pigs are still ill, but they are 
doing as well as we can expect. I remain unchanged 
in opinion regarding the disease ; just let the animals 
alone, and it will do them little harm. So far as I can 
learn, it does no harm to the milk ; calves fed upon it 
thrive well. In general the animals get as well as 
ever in eight days, many in four. I again insist we 
have been more afraid than hurt, and as to people not 
eating meat in case they should get a piece of an animal 
that had had the distemper, it is truly ridiculous, al- 
though they may be all the better of the fast. 

" We are going to send the L.s and Mr. M. a turkey 
each ; they have been very kind both to you and to my 
aunt. Make inquiries about the box, as it contains 
Adam's letter." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" Fenton Barns, 2Uh December 1840. 
" I can scarcely convey to you by letter an idea of 
the pleasure we experienced on the receipt of your last 



MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 77 

letter. We were quite enchanted at the description 
you give of our sister to be (I hope she is so already). 
From the bottom of my heart I sincerely congratulate 
you on your prospects of felicity. . . . When we got 
your letter it was just before dinner, so I went into the 
cellar for a bottle of port, and my father and I, after 
dinner, drank to the health and happiness of sister H. 
The same evening, after supper, we had a tumbler of 
toddy, which we discussed to the same pleasing theme. 
" I am competing for a premium for draining. The 
Darney-potts is the field we are experimenting upon." 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON JOHN. 

"Fenton Barns, 13^ February 1841. 

"Your letter of the 11th came safely to George this 
day. We shall send to Haddington to-morrow for 
cloth for your trousers, since you have unfortunately 
lost the last pair. . . . We sent to you, per C. Eunciman, 
a jar of jam, which I hope you have now got. I am 
really distressed at your dilemma regarding Tillicoultry; 
yet there is nothing like being candid in the matter : 
I therefore think you should write to Mr. H., and tell 
him plainly that you believe Mr. M. has his mind fixed 
on the place, and that you once said (though in a jocular 
way) that he would not find you to stand in his way : 
and therefore that unless Mr. M. was fairly off, that 
you do not see how you could with propriety appear as 
a candidate for the situation. Such is also George's 
opinion about the business." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER JOHN. 

" I quite agree with what my father says in his pre- 
fixed remarks. I am sorry for it, as I had made up my 



78 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

mind that Tillicoultry was just the place for you start- 
ing in your ministerial labours ; but I would not for ten 
times the emolument that you should obtain it by a 
sacrifice of anything like candour. I think you should 
write to Mr. H. immediately, to say that he should not 
mention your name to the Tillicoultry folks until he is 
perfectly satisfied that Mr. M. is completely off. De- 
pend upon it, there is nothing like being perfectly 
straightforward : your every action must be above sus- 
picion. If you always act so you need not be afraid of 
losing the friendship of any man whose mind is any- 
thing like fairly biassed. A truthful and loving heart ; 
a mind deeply imbued with the strongest conviction of 
the great reality of things unseen; a mind with the 
most perfect faith in the good providence of our Father 
in heaven, of the high destiny of all His children on 
earth, and of the illimitable powers of expansion of both 
their intellects and affections ; a perfect faith that the 
time will come when we shall all comprehend the power 
that has made and sustains a universe, and when our 
affection shall be able to take within its ample folds, 
not only the brotherhood of man, but from the smallest 
insect that crawls, up to that power which called all 
things into being : speak these things from the heart, 
and hearts will respond to you. It is your mission. 
If you want faith in them yourself, you never can 
impress the idea on others. Possess a living faith, and 
you may enter upon the sea of active life with the most 
perfect security." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"28th January 1841. 

" I can hardly express to you the disappointment I 
felt at the non- arrival of your letter by the packet of 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 79 

the 3d, — I had so confidently expected its arrival by 
the 16th or 17th at the latest. It is true we got a 
couple of newspapers ; they are ever welcome ; yet 
they were a poor substitute for the rich treat with 
which I had fed my fancy. 

" We had a large meeting in Haddington last Friday, 
for the purpose of taking steps to erect in this county 
a monument to the memory of our deceased landlord, 
Mr. Ferguson. You know well the many obligations 
we are under to that good man, and, since he is no 
longer with us, it is fit and proper that we should 
testify our regard to his memory as well as we can. 
The tenants on the estate are subscribing £5 each. 
My father and I both gave that sum, and we propose 
also to give £2 for you, £1 for Charles, and the same 
for John. I thought that the tenants might have given 
£10 each, but it will not do for us to give more than 
the rest." 

TO THE SAME. 

" February 27th. 

"... We got the glad intelligence [of his marriage], 
first by the London Inquirer, sent by way of New York. 
Upon its arrival we got all the men here and at Fenton 
convened in the kitchen, and gave them several bowls 
of toddy to drink health and happiness to you and 
sister H. . . . I mean to write to A. H., and tell him 
the gibes you throw out against him and me ; you are 
really too severe." 

After the middle of February no letters from Canada 
arrived at Fenton Barns till the end of May. This 
was occasioned by the loss of the steamer " President," 
by which letters had been sent. As usual on the non- 



80 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

arrival of letters, Kobert Hope became very anxious. 
George Hope writes : — 

" You can hardly imagine the many disastrous reasons 
which my father was constantly conjuring up to account 
for your unprecedented silence ; in fact, had we been 
much longer in hearing he would have been off to see 
what you were doing. 

" Affairs in this county, both political and ecclesi- 
astical, are in a very critical conjuncture. Mr. Stark, 
had he been alive, would have been fully justified in 
his usual remark, — ' these portentous times/ . . . The 
feelings of the people are completely roused. Every 
town and village has its meetings and petitions in 
favour of the abolition rather than the modification of 
the three great monopolies, of corn, sugar, and timber. 
Their fate is sealed, whatever party in the State holds 
the reins of government. On the disclosure by Lord 
John Eussell of the Ministerial projects, the consterna- 
tion and rage of the Tories knew no bounds ; it was 
amusing in the highest degree. This day week there 
was a public meeting in Haddington to consider the 
subject. Eesolutions in favour of the abolition of the 
monopolies were carried against cunningly-worded 
amendments by the Tories by a large, enthusiastic, and 
almost unanimous meeting. I was present, and moved 
the first resolution. I confined myself almost entirely 
to the Corn question. The Tories proposed to reduce 
the scale to a shilling when wheat reached 60s. per 
quarter, instead of 72s., as at present. This is what we 
proposed last year, and got up a petition for ; but I 
asked, ' Did one of those who now advocated that mea- 
sure sign that petition?' The compromise we would 
have accepted as a boon last year we now scorned. 



MEMOIK OF GEORGE HOPE. 81 

"The deposition of the Strathbogie ministers . . . 
has shaken the Church to its foundations, so that I am 
beginning to hope that ere long we may get rid of a 
nuisance in the Established Church; — its days are 
numbered." 

In the general election, which took place in this 
summer of 1841, the county of East Lothian was not 
contested ; but a Tory candidate (Mr. Balfour of Whit- 
tingham) came forward for the Haddington burghs in 
opposition to Mr. Steuart. George Hope writes to his 

sister-in-law : — 

" 1st July 1841. 

"We are at present in the midst of the din and 
turmoil of a general election. The excitement is as 
great as during the passing of the Reform Bill. The 
contest in the Haddington burghs is most severe. The 
nomination took place yesterday ; I was on the hustings 
with the Whig candidate, Mr. Steuart, for whom my 
father and I vote. He asked me to second his nomina- 
tion in consequence of a gentleman from Jedburgh not 
making his appearance ; but he arrived during the pro- 
ceedings, which saved me a speech on the Corn Laws 
and Ballot. It is hard to say who will win ; the Tories 
are so unscrupulous of their cash. I think Steuart has 
the majority, but it will be a small one." 

The Tory candidate, Mr. Balfour, won by a majority 
of nine out of a total vote of 537. County and burghs 
were now alike given up to the enemy. 

FROM MR. JOHN HOPE TO HIS FATHER. 

" Aberdeen, July 5th, 1841. 
" I bite my nails in utter grief at the defeat of 
Steuart. County and burgh are now sunk in the 

F 



82 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

depths of shame and disgrace. The important interests 
of Haddingtonshire to be represented by two boobies ! 
It is more than flesh and blood can bear. Liberal 
principles have triumphed in this town. Mr. Banner- 
man has gained a victory over the full play of Tory 
influence and power — majority 267. A man, pale and 
emaciated, was brought by the Tories to the poll in a 
sedan chair. He voted for Mr. Bannerman amidst loud 
shouts of laughter. His patriotism lost him his easy 
carriage home/' 

Pecuniary matters had at last begun to improve at 
Fenton Barns. In May 1841 George Hope wrote : 
"We have still twelve wheat and six oat stacks, 300 
sheep, 200 lambs, and thirty cattle, and our Lammas 
rent is ready in the bank ; so as far as worldly concerns 
go we are prosperous, and I trust thankful. You 
remember when it was very different." 

At this time he also writes in great spirits concern- 
ing the crop of '41, which promised remarkably well, 
but before harvest it fell off a good deal, in consequence 
of a prolonged drought, and the harvest months prov- 
ing wet, great difficulty was experienced in getting it 
secured. 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS SISTER-IN-LAW, 
MRS. ADAM HOPE. 

"Fenton Barns, 1st August 1841. 
" In a few lines I wrote you on the 1st of last 
month, I mentioned that we were going to have a 
strawberry party in the Castle Gardens at Dirleton, 
and that I would tell you in my next how it came off. 
The weather for some days before it took place had 



MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 83 

been wet and cold ; however, the evening selected 
turned out most propitious. As a manager, I opened 
the ball by leading off a country-dance with Mrs. 
William Ker, the youngest married lady present, and I 
was not a little astonished myself, and I daresay sur- 
prised some of my friends, by tripping it every dance 
the whole evening. You must know I am a very sober, 
sedate personage, not in general given to cut capers, 
but conceiving if to be my duty, I was anxious to 
discharge it to the best of my ability. We danced in 
the open air, on the bowling-green. We had tea and 
coffee and cake, then strawberries and cream, followed 
by a glass of brandy ; then we had brandy-toddy and 
wine-negus for those who liked it, and lemonade for 
the teetotalers." 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO ONE OF HIS SONS. 

"31st October 1841. 
" We have not for many years past had such wet 
weather. Peffer has, during the month, had its banks 
thrice flooded at least. You may have heard that if 
once flooded, then we may be sure of having it three 
times ; now such has really been the case in this 
month of October, which has gone far to confirm the 
old saying or prophecy. We are expecting soon Mr. 
Mace, a young man from Kent, to learn our system of 
husbandry ; the state of my own health makes me 
rather averse to take a stranger into the family, but it 
may be a source of pleasure to George." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO MRS. ADAM HOPE. 

" Do you read Dickens's works with you ? Every- 
thing he has written bears the impress of genius. I 



84 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

again read Nicholas Nicklehy lately with increased 
pleasure, and am getting Humphrey's Clock as it ap- 
pears. I have read another book, or books, which I 
have just finished to-day, Palmyra, and Rome and the 
Early Christians. I have perused them with no com- 
mon delight. They are written by Henry Ware, junr., 
a Unitarian minister in Boston, U.S." 1 

He speaks of having sent off to be shipped for 
Canada a box containing, among other things, a fifth 
volume of Channing's works. " This," he writes, " will 
complete your set. There are, it is true, three small 
articles published lately which you want. Though I 
bought several copies of each, I regret much that I had 
none left to send to you, as I lend them to whoever 
will read them, because I think the reading of Channing 
is the opening up of a new mine of wealth, or a new 
world of pleasure, to the uninitiated, revealing to them, 
in burning language, the end and object of their exist- 
ence and the glorious destiny of our race. I never 
tire reading his pages; his elevated sentiments are 
truly a moral medicine, well qualified to purge the 
mind from all earthly dross and to fit us for the man- 
sions above, when we bid adieu to this sublunary 
scene." A few months afterwards he alludes to the 
death of Dr. Channing. " You will have heard," he 
says, " of the death of the immortal Channing. Yes, 
the light that illumined two hemispheres is quenched, 
but even in his death he will benefit humanity." 

1 They were written by William Ware, a brother of Henry 
Ware's. 



CHAPTER VI. 

To your duty now and ever, 

Dream no more of rest or stay, 
Give to Freedom's great endeavour 

All thou art and hast to-day. 

J. G. Whittier. 

A conference of ministers and members of Dissent- 
ing Churches was held at Edinburgh on the 11th, 12th, 
and 13th January 1842, "to express their opinion of 
the injustice and immoral tendency of the Corn and 
Provision Laws." George Hope writes : " At the Con- 
ference Mr. H. and I represented John's congregation. 1 
I had a letter from Duncan M'Laren on the Saturday 
before the meeting, stating that, as chairman of the 
committee, he was requested to inform me that I had 
been appointed one of the speakers. He said I had 
been recommended, amongst others, by Councillor Gray 
and Mr. Eitchie of the Scotsman. I replied at once 
that I accepted. I had a second letter from Mr. 
M'Laren, telling me that Mr. Dawson of the Kelso 
Chronicle was to speak on certain points, so that I 
might not interfere with him. Mr. M'Laren asked me 
to dine with him to meet the M.P.'s who were to be 
present, but on the Tuesday when I got into Edinburgh 
I found he had lost a sister, and that he could not make 
his appearance or see his friends. Mr. Wigham, who 

1 John Hope was now a minister in Aberdeen. 



86 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

was our first chairman, told me this, but that he, Mr. 
W., would be most happy to see me that day to dinner. 
In delivering my speech I made use of my notes, so 
was quite at my ease ; it appeared to give satisfaction 
from the way in which I was cheered throughout, 
though the last clause, about ' no monopoly in heaven,' 
rather staggered some people. I have been much 
praised and much blamed in some even of the London 
daily papers. At Mr. Wigham's I met George Thomp- 
son the Anti-Slavery lecturer, Mr. Marshall of Coupar- 
Angus, Mr. Lowe of Forfar, and some others of the 
speakers. On the Wednesday I dined with Mr. Charles 
Maclaren of the Scotsman. He kindly pressed me to 
stay with him when in town. He is fifty-five years of 
age, and was married only on Thursday last. I break- 
fasted one morning with Mr. Eitchie, who is a long- 
headed, shrewd man, with a great deal of fun and 
humour. On the Wednesday morning I breakfasted 
with Mr. Harris; he had the Unitarian ministers of 
Glasgow and Tillicoultry with him. Besides these three 
ministers there were eight or ten Unitarian laymen at 
the Conference, so we were pretty fairly represented. 
. . . Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole 
proceedings of the Conference was the soiree ; the whole 
of the speeches were first-rate. The large room in the 
Waterloo buildings was crammed. I was following 
the crowd into the room, with Mr. Eitchie, when a 
gentleman touched me on the shoulder, and said I had 
a right to the platform, to which there was access by 
another door. Mr. Eitchie said, ' I will go there too.' 
'You cannot get,' was the reply. 'Do you know who 
I am?' said Mr. Eitchie. 'Yes, you are Mr. Eitchie/ 
said the gentleman. 'Well, sir,' said Mr. Eitchie, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 87 

' unless you allow me to go to the platform not a word 
of your proceedings shall appear in the Scotsman! 
This carried the day. Most comfortable we were, and 
our comfort was heightened by seeing the crowd below. 
. . . Altogether, I was much pleased with my stay at 
the Conference." 

In his speech delivered at the Conference, he said 
that he was anxious to give expression to his opinions 
on the Bread-tax from being a practical farmer, gaining 
his livelihood by his profession; and thus identified with 
a class generally, but most erroneously, supposed to 
have a deep interest in keeping up the present mono- 
poly of furnishing food for the people of these realms. 
As a grower of grain, he wished to proclaim to the 
public that he had no fear for the ruin of his order 
from the working classes of our manufacturing towns 
being permitted to exchange the produce of their 
industry for food raised in foreign lands. In showing 
that high prices for grain were not so necessary to the 
farmer as was imagined, he mentioned that in 1836, 
when wheat was selling at 36 s. per quarter, farmers in 
East Lothian did well ; but that since then, in 1839 for 
example, with wheat at 72s. per quarter, they lost 
money. They did not grow grain sufficient for their 
rents and expenses. The landlords in England, by 
refusing leases and preventing the improvement of the 
soil, showed themselves regardless of the welfare of the 
people; practically saying that no more inhabitants 
should dwell in the kingdom than they chose to raise 
food for; compelling emigration of both capital and 
labour, which would otherwise have borne its share of 
the burdens of the country ; thus crippling the resources 
of the nation ; for what constituted the strength of a 



88 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

country but a numerous and well-fed population ? " It 
is a glorious truth," lie said, " that God has made of 
one blood all the nations of the earth, and that we are 
all brethren, and that the varied distributions of the 
bounties of His providence are manifestly intended to 
knit nation to nation in the bonds of Christian love ; 
but man has found out many inventions, enabling the 
strong to crush the weak — ay, compelling the poor to 
support the rich, and allowing the few to lord it over 
the many. But man's right as man is getting better 
understood ; God's blessings are found to be intended 
for each and all. It is to be hoped that the knell of 
Monopoly hath rung, and I earnestly trust that all will 
be disappointed who claim it either here on earth or 
who anticipate it in heaven." 

The following account has been given of this meet- 
ing :— 

" In addition to the 801 members of Conference who 
alone could take part in the proceedings, about 150 
tickets of admission to witness the proceedings were 
issued to friends who subscribed to defray the expenses 
incurred in promoting the objects of the meeting ; and 
about 500 ' family tickets' of admission were presented 
to those families who so hospitably lodged and enter- 
tained the ministers and members who had come from 
a distance to attend the meeting. The two classes of 
tickets were used with great avidity, . . . and there 
were from 1400 to 1600 persons constantly present. 
If the public generally had been admitted no church 
in Edinburgh could have contained one-half of those 
desirous of being present. 

"... It may be mentioned that, although nearly all 
the ministers and members who attended the Conference 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 89 

from a distance were provided with accommodation in 
the houses of their Dissenting brethren in Edinburgh, 
the offers of additional apartments made to the com- 
mittee were so numerous that there is reason to believe 
a very large additional number could have been ac- 
commodated with very little trouble to the committee. 
. . . Altogether the meeting was perhaps the most 
interesting and successful ever held in the city. 

" . . . Every member [of the Conference] is bound 
to give the most uncompromising opposition, not only 
to the present Corn Laws, but to every prop'osal having 
for its object the . levying of any duty, great or small, 
on the bread of the people." 1 

Eobert Hope writes : " You will have seen from our 
public papers in some measure what has been going 
on here. George's speech, so different from what his 
interest was considered to be, in regard to the Corn 
Law, has made, I understand, a singular sensation 
amongst his acquaintances. It has been greatly com- 
mented on through almost every newspaper in the 
island, some condemning, others praising. 

" In the public newspapers you may have seen the 
name of a gentleman, a Mr. Christopher, 2 who has made 
himself conspicuous on the Corn question. Are you 
aware that his wife is Mrs. Ferguson's eldest daughter ? 
He and George may meet as landlord and tenant, but 
what his opinion of the course followed by George 
may be is doubtful." 

On the 4th of March a meeting was held in Hadding- 



1 Introduction to the Reports of the Speeches delivered at the 
Conference. 

2 Afterwards R. A. Dundas Christopher Nisbet Hamilton, who 
in 1872 turned George Hope out of Fenton Barns. 



90 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

ton for the purpose of petitioning for the total repeal 
of the Corn Laws, and for the extension of the suffrage. 
In reply to an invitation to attend and speak at this 
meeting, George Hope wrote the following letter : — 

"2d March 1842. 

" Sir, — I have just had the honour to receive your 
letter of yesterday, and am sorry that pressing business 
engagements will prevent me being present at your 
proposed meeting ; but, though absent personally, my 
heart will be with you. I have long considered the 
Provision Laws as the work of intense selfishness based 
on injustice. In an old country like this, with such a 
large population pressing upon the means of subsist- 
ence, free-trade in everything, and especially in food, 
is absolutely necessary for the well-being of the whole 
community — may I not say for the absolute existence 
of the masses ? With free-trade, I would no more fear 
the increase of population in this country than I do 
in America, with its millions of yet uncultivated acres 
for the people to fall back upon. Though we cannot 
extend the boundaries of our sea-girt isle, yet is not 
the mighty ocean a highway furnished by the Universal 
Father as a band to link us to remote nations, to whom 
we may send, along with the produce of our manufac- 
turing industry, the blessings of civilisation and of 
Christianity in exchange for that food which we so 
much want ? Free -trade is merely an extension of the 
Christian principle, Love your neighbour as yourself. 

"You do well also to demand an extension of the 
suffrage. I begin to doubt if justice will ever be ob- 
tained on any other terms. Property is now the quali- 
fication, and perhaps, as naturally enough might be 



MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 9 1 

expected, the heaviest share of the burden of our 
grinding taxation has been thrown upon labour. People 
have been taxed according to their poverty, to protect 
that property which is almost exempted from taxation. 
Tor my own part, I have great faith in human nature ; 
I reckon it the worst of heresies to doubt the capability 
of human improvement. Humanity has been kept too 
long like a chained tiger. If man is a wild beast, his 
keepers have made him so. Treat him like a rational 
being, and he will show that he is so. If I have any 
doubts as to the propriety of advocating at once Uni- 
versal Suffrage, I have none as to the wisdom and 
expediency of demanding Household Suffrage." 

Three weeks afterwards, another meeting took place 
in Haddington ; this time it was in favour of Protec- 
tion. George Hope writes to his brother Charles : — 

"31st March 1842. 

" You will see the terror and dismay that Peel has 
thrown among his supporters. There was a meeting 
in Haddington last Friday, Sir George Warrender in 
the chair. Eesolutions were passed condemnatory of 
' Peel's movement.' The determined Tories were the 
most violent. I felt a great inclination to propose a 
vote of thanks to Peel for the length he had gone, but 
I refrained; it would have been a pity to mar the 
unanimity of the Tories in their condemnation of their 
own idol. There was a dinner of the Agricultural 
Society, Sir George Warrender again presiding. I took 
him up several times on the Corn question and Free- 
trade, and rather surprised him." 

Since 1838 Eobert Hope's health had been far from 
good, and in this year (1842) he lost the power of 



92 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

speech. He had been remarkably fluent, had been 
noted as a talker; and could express himself with 
equal facility either in speech or writing. After losing 
his speech he continued to be able to write with his 
wonted clearness for about two years. The state of his 
father's health made George very much of a prisoner at 
home, but he was inclined to take a cheerful view of 
matters. He writes : " Everything is going on quietly 
and satisfactorily with us. My father and I ride or 
walk about the farm during the day, and I read or 
write in the evenings. I attend Haddington market 
on the Fridays, seldom or never leaving home but on 
business, and almost as rarely seeing any one here. We 
hear regularly every Wednesday from John, we get a 
newspaper six days in the week, three monthly periodi- 
cals, besides books from the Library, and then we have 
your letters and papers, so that I am at least con- 
tented with my lot. . . . You cannot conceive what 
satisfaction my father derives from the arrival of letters 
from America ; his health prevents him going from 
home, so that he has not many things to interest him. 
He is often not in such spirits as I would like, but 
when he hears from you it does him a great deal of 
good ; John's letters are also of great service." 

Eobert Hope writes to his son Adam : " I was truly 
gratified by your letter of introduction handed me by 
Mr. Macgregor a fortnight past last Friday. Being by 
myself, and just sitting down to dinner, I was surprised 
and delighted when your letter was put into my hand. 
. . . Coming from St. Thomas, as Mr. Macgregor did, 
and being personally acquainted with you and Charles, 
rendered him a visitor of more than ordinary import- 
ance. He told me that the very day before he left 



MEMOIK OF GEORGE HOPE. 93 

home he was in your house, and actually had my little 
grandchild in his arms, whom he described as a thriving 
infant." The grandchild here alluded to was an object 
of great interest to all its relatives on this side of the 
Atlantic. Its uncle in Aberdeen expressed his surprise 
that a notice of its birth had not been sent to the Edin- 
burgh papers. He sent the announcement to the Aber- 
deen papers, although probably no one in that town 
was any the wiser in consequence. The child's grand- 
father expresses delight at hearing that she has been 
successfully vaccinated ; and, when the infant is about 
six weeks old, rejoices that, " from the state of the new 
law in Canada, there is every probability of efficient 
teachers being found in the country by the time she is 
fit to attend school." It was a debated question whether 
or not the child ought to be baptized, and her uncle 
George gives his opinion as follows : " For my part, I 
do not think baptism is a rite at all essential, Christi- 
anity being, in my opinion, a religion without priest 
and without ritual, requiring only singleness of purpose 
and purity of heart, — to discharge our duties not only 
to those who are near and dear to us, but ever to do 
good, as we find opportunity, to all, for all are alike 
destined heirs of immortality. There was an excellent 
man, named Eichard Wright, who for fifty years 
laboured as a missionary to prove that infant baptism 
was naught, but that every man required to be baptized 
anew, and took the vows upon himself. He finally saw 
of what little moment it was whether baptism was ever 
performed or not, and that this is true religion, — to visit 
the widow and the fatherless, and to keep one's-self un- 
spotted from the world. I do not however mean to 
say that it may not be appropriate for parents solemnly 



94 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

to render thanks to our Father in heaven for having 
blessed them with a child, which they may dedicate to 
His service by sprinkling with water; but that the 
ceremony itself, whether performed upon old or young, 
can have the slightest effect upon our position when 
we come to give an account of the deeds done in the 
body, is an idea which I utterly repudiate." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, July 28th, 1842. 

" From all that I can learn, there is every prospect of 
a great crop throughout the kingdom, notwithstanding 
a good deal of grumbling. I have been through the 
most of this county, part of Edinburghshire and Lin- 
lithgow, and I am satisfied that, whatever the result 
may be, the prospect is most flattering. Last Saturday 
being ' the preachings ' here, my father and I, with Mr. 
Mace, took a ride to Dunbar, and thence to Skateraw. 
We saw part of Thorntonloch, Crowhill, East Barns, 
etc.; the crops look most excellent, though Fenton 
Barns can hold up its head with any of them. ... A 
continuance of the present weather is all that is wanted 
to enable us to make money, and I am anxious for this, 
as it is a long time to have always plenty to be doing 
with but nothing lying by. . . . 

"... I am to be in Edinburgh for a day or two next 
week at the Highland Society's show ; but John will 
be here with my father. We expect him on Monday ; 
he is coming to attend a gathering of the faithful the 
week following at Edinburgh. I allude to the meeting 
of the Scottish Unitarian Christian Association. By 
the way, the General Assembly's fast for the sins of the 
Kirk was on this day week. Mr. Ainslie took care 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 95 

again to make the sacramental fast on the same day, so 
this parish was silent, but through the county little 
attention was paid to it. 

"... We are all happy to hear that your little 
daughter J. is thriving so nicely ; she must be getting 
a big thumping girl by this time. May she be long 
spared to you ! " 

" 29th September 1842. 
" It is now a long time since all our corn was in the 
barn -yard. All the grain is of the finest quality, . . . 
never having had, I may say, a single shower. Our 
wheat is much superior to anything we have had for 
years." 

FEOM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON ADAM. 

" 30th August 1842. 

" You will have seen by the papers how much the 
country is agitated by the strikes among the different 
trades, as also aided by the machinations of the Chartists. 
That there is much misery among the poor workmen 
can admit of no doubt, both from the want of employ- 
ment altogether, and in other cases by very low wages. 
In different towns there has unhappily been very 
serious rioting and loss of life in England, and, although 
peaceable by last accounts, there is no saying how the 
matter either here or there may terminate, as a very 
bad spirit is abroad among the working classes, and 
that caused, in a great degree, by our unfair Corn Laws, 
and others of a like nature." 

George Hope one day observed in the Examiner an 
advertisement in which three prizes were offered by the 
Anti-Corn-Law League for the three best essays on the 
Eepeal of the Corn Laws. He thereupon set to work 



96 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

to write an essay on the subject, which when finished 
he sent off, along with the following note addressed to 
the Secretary of the League : — 

" Sir, — In consequence of an advertisement which I 
noticed in the Examiner newspaper, I beg to hand you 
the accompanying ' Address on the Corn Laws to Tenant 
Farmers and Farm -labourers.' Of course I shall be 
gratified should it meet with the approbation of the 
League, but, if otherwise, I shall be happy to hear that 
abler pens than mine have been- employed in exposing 
the impolicy and injustice of the Bread-tax. In the 
latter case, I expect you will have the goodness to 
return the article, addressed as under. — I have the 
honour to remain, your obedient servant, 

" George Hope." 

He took for the motto of his essay an extract from 
Dr. Channing : " Free-trade ! this is the plain duty 
and the plain interest of the human race. To level all 
barriers to free exchange, to cut up the system root and 
branch, to open every port on earth to every product, — 
this is the system of enlightened humanity." He states 
in his essay that the widespread and overwhelming 
distress which existed throughout every grade of the 
manufacturing and labouring populations in the king- 
dom was attributable to the rapacity of landlords, who 
had hitherto governed the country. At one time the 
only law relating to corn in Great Britain had been the 
prohibition from exporting it. "The wisdom of our 
ancestors," he said," did not imagine that a country could 
possibly be ruined by an over- abundance in the supply 
of either corn, beef, or mutton. This discovery was 
reserved for later days." Enactments regulating the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 97 

price of grain had from the first been said to be for the 
benefit of the " poor farmer " (a cant phrase which was 
not of yesterday). It apparently did not occur to any 
one that the poor landlords had any interest in high 
prices ; but, in truth, high rents were the only things 
incompatible with low prices. If this odious monopoly 
was kept up, let it be understood that it was for the sole 
benefit of the landlords. Farmers in the neighbourhood 
of London had keenly opposed the repairing or making 
passable the public roads, saying that the doing so 
would deprive them of their " natural monopoly." The 
same arguments used by them were now used against 
the admission of foreign corn. Notwithstanding at 
least fifty laws which had been passed regarding grain, 
"agricultural distress" continued, — distress which he 
well knew to have been no phantom of the imagina- 
tion. With the products of her genius England was 
enabled to rifle, for luxuries to her sons, the furthest 
corners of the earth ; suicidal madness alone prevented 
commerce in what was most essential of all, — food for 
the millions of her people. 

After sending it off, the next thing he heard of his 
essay was by the following note from Mr. Cobden : — 

" Manchester, 8th November 1842. 
" Dear Sir, — Enclosed is a proof of your excellent 
practical essay, which the Council of the League has 
selected for publication as one of the three best of a large 
number that have been received. Will you be good 
enough to look it over, and make any corrections or 
alterations you please ? . . . We hope you will allow us 
to affix your name to the essay. It would enhance 
incalculably its value if the fact be placed beyond a 

G 



98 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

doubt that it is really the production of a practical 
farmer. Please to return the proof as soon as you can. 
1 will superintend the proof so far as verbal corrections 
are concerned. — I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully, 

" BlCHARD COBDEN." 

The other prize-essayists were Mr. Arthur Morse of 
Swaffham, Norfolk, and Mr. W. E. Greg. All the three 
essays obtained first prizes of £30. A friend of George 
Hope's writes to him from Edinburgh in the middle of 
December : " As requested by you, I sent to Mr. Tait's 
for six copies of the Essays to send you, but I found 
that they had been all sold. I sent to the other book- 
sellers, but with a similar result. They, however, expect 
an additional supply on Monday, and if they arrive I 
shall send those you order." Thirty and fifteen copies 
respectively appear to have been thought a sufficient 
number to send, for sale, to the towns of Haddington 
and Dunbar. I do not know whether or not Dunbar 
contrived to buy up its fifteen copies, but the Hadding- 
ton supply was sold off in less than an hour. The three 
essays cost the sum of sixpence sterling. 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" November 28th, 1842. 
"... My father has told you that I am one of the 
successful competitors for the premium offered by ' the 
League ' for an address on the Corn Laws. The three 
best are to be printed, and a million copies of each cir- 
culated. I had a letter three days ago from Mr. H., 
who tells me that he had seen a copy of mine in print 
which had been sent by Mr. Cobden, M.P., to Mr. 
Duncan M'Laren, Edinburgh. I shall send you a copy 
when I get one." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 99 

FROM MR. JOHN HOPE TO HIS FATHEK. 

" I notice that George's essay is to be put in the 
Mark Lane Express in the shape of an advertisement. 
This is an honour indeed. If the editor or any of his 
clodpoles make condemnatory remarks upon it may I 
get a look of the paper ?" 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO ONE OF HIS SONS. 

"Fenton Barns, 29th January 1843. 

" Long before this reaches your side of the globe you 
will have heard all about George's essay on the Corn 
Law, and you will have seen what a sensation it has 
created, even with men of talent and experience ; and I 
can tell you the question has obviously made a deep 
impression on the public mind, even within these few 
weeks past, and George gets great credit with even the 
neighbour farmers, as the truths brought forward in his 
essay are generally admitted to be sound. You will have 
seen a copy of said essay, as hardly a newspaper in the 
kingdom but has had it either shorter or longer, and the 
Mark Lane Express was paid for inserting it in a late 
number as an advertisement, although hostile to the 
principles of the doctrines therein recommended. George 
has had invitations, on account of his essay, from far 
and near, but which he has uniformly declined, on my 
account, as he does not like the idea of going from 
home and leaving me in my present state of health." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER CHARLES. 

"Fenton Barns, 30th January 1843. 
" The Corn Laws are the absorbing topic of the public 
prints at the present time, and the prize essays appear 



100 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

to excite great interest. I send you the Berwick Adver- 
tiser, which contains the best half of mine. I have seen 
two attempts at reply ; one, filled with abuse, in the 
Edinburgh Advertiser, and another in the Mark Lane 
Express, written in a more gentlemanly spirit ; but I 
take no notice of anonymous attacks. I have received 
letters and newspapers in great numbers from all parts 
of the kingdom ; most of them complimentary enough in 
all conscience. Some of them come addressed, f G. H., 
Esq., author of the Corn Law essay' ! What do you 
think of that ? I have had many inquiries as to our 
mode of farming, and I had a letter from a gentleman in 
Guernsey, wishing to send his son to learn farming at 
Eenton Barns ; I sent him to Mr. Miller, to whom we 
sent another applicant lately." 

FROM MR. ROBERT HOPE TO HIS SON ADAM. 

" 2§th April 1843. 

" Have you seen a copy of George's essay yet ? If 
not, we shall take the first opportunity of supplying you. 
You can hardly imagine the credit and public notice it 
has brought him. From the first of its appearance, even 
still, up to the present time, letters are coming to hand 
thanking him for his labours, and so late as Sunday one 
from Middlesex, and another from Bury St. Edmunds on 
the Monday, generally asking for explanations regarding 
the leases of Scotch farmers." 

All these letters appear to have been patiently 
answered, as they remain with copies of the replies 
written on the backs. The three essays were all in one 
cover, Mr. Hope's being placed first in order, and it was, 
I believe, the one which was most generally quoted and 
commented upon. This was no doubt partly due to, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 101 

what appeared to many, the extraordinary circumstance 
of its having been written by a tenant farmer, — one of 
the very class for whose express benefit the Corn Laws 
were supposed to exist. 

A year or two afterwards his fellow prize-essayist, Mr. 
Morse, after paying him a visit at Fenton Barns, wrote 
to him thus : " I recollect you remarking that you 
thought Greg's essay the best, and I disagreed with you, 
but I omitted to say whose I thought the best, which 
was yours." 

George Hope, after remarking, apparently with sur- 
prise, on the thirty copies of the essays having been so 
quickly sold in Haddington, rejoices at " this spirit of 
inquiry," as he is sure " it is all that is wanted in order 
to consign monopolies of every kind to the tomb of all 
the Capulets." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" Fenton Barns, 30th May 1843. 
" My father and I were both delighted to-day at the 
receipt of your and H's letters of the 13th April, to- 
gether with eight newspapers from Charles and you. 
... Of course I am not a little proud of the compli- 
ments you and H. pay me on my paper on the Corn 
Laws. To have one's name not unknown even in the 
backwoods of America, in connection with efforts for 
the improvement of the masses, is certainly far greater 
honour than I ever looked for when labouring at the 
composition of it. Mr. Cobden, the great champion of 
Free-trade, at the last discussion of the Corn question 
in the House of Commons, made a speech on this worn- 
out question as fresh and vigorous as if the subject had 
been entirely new. That Free-trade will ultimately be 



102 MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 

carried I cannot doubt, but it will be a time before the 
aristocracy quit the grip. I do rejoice to think that I 
have lent a hand at the good work ; and the truly kind 
and warm expressions of approbation which you have 
bestowed on that assistance have given me more happi- 
ness than anything else connected with it, as, next 
to the approval of my own conscience, I value that of 
our own family. Your kindness has betrayed me into 
all this egotism." 

In December 1842 George Hope was invited to be 
present at an Anti-Corn-Law banquet in Leith ; he was 
also invited to an Anti- Corn-Law soiree, which took 
place in Edinburgh about the same time ; but these 
invitations he was forced to decline, being unable to 
leave home on account of the state of his father's 
health. He much regretted that it was impossible for 
him to be present at these demonstrations, particularly 
as he was most anxious to see Mr. Cobden, who was 
expected to speak on both occasions, but, considering 
it his duty to remain at home, he had no hesitation in 
deciding to do so. People who think that their whole 
duty in life consists in " making things comfortable for 
themselves and their kin," are wont to assert that those 
who devote any portion of their time to labours for the 
public good usually neglect their domestic duties. 
George Hope was one of many examples of the falseness 
of this assertion. In reply to a pressing invitation 
from the Council of the Anti- Corn-Law League to 
speak at a meeting in Manchester in January 1843, 
George Hope writes to Mr. Wilson, chairman of the 
League : " I can hardly express to you how reluctantly 
I feel obliged to decline the invitation of the Council 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 103 

of the League to be with you at the forthcoming great 
demonstration. The truth is that on account of 
domestic reasons (the state of my father's health) I 
have laid it down as a rule not to leave home this 
winter unless on urgent business, not even to visit a 
neighbour. ... I assure you it is from no want of 
good-will to the cause. The opportunity it would have 
given me of meeting some of the distinguished states- 
men who will be with you (and there is no one I am 
more anxious to see than Mr. Cobden), would have 
been sufficient to have removed any difficulty, if this 
had been other than my sense of domestic duty. . . . 

" I hope you will excuse me mentioning to you that 
Mr. Charles H. Shirreff, at present residing at Buckover, 
Gloucester, is, I think, admirably qualified, from his 
talents and practical knowledge of agriculture, to illus- 
trate the effects of the corn monopoly upon the agri- 
cultural classes. I have no hesitation in recommending 
you to endeavour to secure his services as a speaker." 

FROM A MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE 
TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

" It was our earnest wish that you should have filled, 
with Mr. E. H. Greg, the office of Joint Secretary to 
the agricultural section, and if you could, consistently 
with your duty, still favour us with your presence, if 
only for a day, we should be most grateful. If we did 
not feel that your presence was of the greatest conse- 
quence, we would not again press your acceptance of 
the invitation and of the office, but we are satisfied 
that, if duty permits, you will yet respond to our call. 
Many thanks for your suggestion about Mr. Shirreff; 



104 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

I have written to this gentleman soliciting his attend- 
ance. . . ." 

FROM MR. C. SHIRREFF TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

" 20th January 1843. 
"... Well, to-day comes an invitation from the 
League to attend the great gathering at Manchester on 
the 30th, and along with the invitation was a letter 
from a Mr. Wooley, member of Council, asking me to 
speak, upon your recommendation ! ! ! ' Stand forth, 
my lord, thou art the man.' Me speak ! Did you ever 
hear me ? Did any one else ? I never did. If I was 
' half fou] or very angry, I could ; but then a teetotaler 
with nothing to provoke him — what could he do ? . . . 
I used to spout Lord Chatham's speech at school, to 
the complete satisfaction of Hardie's heart, and I was 
frequently called out by him to read the eighth chapter 
of Eomans. I was his model for the younger birkies. 
Now, I could treat the assemblage to either of these. 
'I call upon the Bishops to interpose the unsullied 
sanctity of their lawn. I call upon the spirit and 
humanity of my country to preserve her in this awful 
crisis. I invoke the genius of the Constitution. From 
the tapestry that adorns these walls, see the immortal 
ancestors of your freedom frowning with indignation at 
the disgrace of their country.' l It is God that justifieth, 
who is he that condemneth ? Shall tribulation, or dis- 
tress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, 
or sword ? Nay, in all these things we are more than 
conquerors.' If I could express similar sentiments 
with similar force of language, the delivery might be 
managed ; but it seems my speech is intended for 
farmers, and there will be none there, so it must be read 



MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 105 

by them. Shall I press home the selfish argument of 
its being for their own temporal salvation? Shall I 
launch the thunderbolt of justice, and strike the self- 
seeking-at-all-hazards dumb, and tell how I, a farmer, 
the son of a farmer, the descendant of a race of farmers, 
have been injured in both worlds by these Corn Laws ?" 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

"Manchester, 31st January 1843. 
" My dear George, — . . . At Buckover I sat and 
wrote, and tried to learn. I was on the rack. I tore 
and burnt my scrawls ; got into the coach on Saturday 
night, and set off for Manchester ; arrived at five o'clock 
on Sunday morning. . . . There was a meeting yester- 
day. I attended, got up the right spirit, came out and 
took a walk ; then set to work, and wrote off my speech 
without a halt, and delivered it to-day, amid the cheers 
of the audience. I took care not to make any reflections 
on English agriculture, being a Scotchman, and walked 
into the East Lothian lairds like Davy Crockett. I 
explained that Mrs. and the late Mr. Ferguson were 
noble exceptions. A letter was read by the chairman 
corroborating my remarks on the expulsion of tenants." 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

" Buckover, 1th February 1843. 
" My dear George, — I am happy to learn from yours 
of Friday evening that you are quite satisfied with your 
'Shirr eff' Depute, and certainly if there is any credit 
due to the man who brought me out, appropriate it, for 
thine is the glory. I was amazed at the number of 
people who shook me by the hand subsequent to my 



106 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

delivery. During the promenade evening it was a good 
deal oftener than once or twice that I heard some pretty- 
girl whisper loud enough for me to hear, ' There 's Mr. 
Shirreff !' The evening after the promenade there was 
another meeting at Peter Street. The doorkeeper was 
showing me up to the entrance to the platform, when a 
lady came and introduced herself as a countrywoman, 
and said there was a young lady of her party who was 
very anxious to be introduced to me. So off I went, 

and was introduced to Miss , a damsel dressed in 

tartan (put on for the occasion, of course). Oh, if I 
could only tell you one half of the pretty things she 
said ! We sat together all the evening : she congratu- 
lated me on my maiden speech ; I expressed regret at 
being obliged to leave town next day, etc. etc. . . . 

" Wilson is the tongue of the League trump. He is 
both fireman and engineer, stirring up the coals and 
oiling the machinery at all points. He never rises or 
gives his opinion till pressed to do so. One day, after 
all had given their opinions about moving the League, 
pro tern, to London, Cobden remarked — ' I should like 
to hear Mr. Wilson's opinion. I am sure he has been 
thinking over the subject, and there is no man whose 
opinion I value more highly.' On which Wilson rose 
and gave his opinion in such a conciliatory style that 
all came to his views. John Bright is a brilliant, flashy, 
energetic fellow. There are a number of oldish, wealthy, 
plodding fellows, that I don't know enough of to be able 
to describe. M'Cullagh Torrens is a clever-looking 
chap, likely to rise. Of the speakers, D. O'Connell of 
course stands first. Oh, it was rich to see him clasp 
his hands and swing from side to side as if in ecstasies 
at the sight before him ! The cheering he got beat all, 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 107 

— it was equal to all the rest put together. Bright 
was the next in popularity." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER CHARLES. 
"Fenton Barns, 30th January 1843. 

" The country seems agitated from one end to the 
other with the all-absorbing topic of the Corn Laws, 
and total repeal is making rapid strides into public 
favour. The great meeting of the League at Man- 
chester begins to-day. I had two pressing invitations, 
but had to decline. . . . The struggles of the Kirk is 
another public question that is interesting. I do think 
there will be a large secession, at which I rejoice, as it 
will be a stepping-stone to upset the business of a State 
religion. Mr. Ainslie is one of the keenest of the 
agitators, and is going to give up his snug billet at 
Dirleton, and erect a church at Gullane. 

" We give up the tile-trade at Whitsunday for good. 
There is now, I may say, no sale." 1 

TO HIS SISTER-IN-LAW. 

" 30th January. 

" I have said that farm-labour is far forward ? Adam 
will know well what I mean when I say that this in- 
cludes threshing. I have seldom seen the barn-yards 
emptier at this day of the year. There was certainly 
a good crop last year, but I suppose the small prices 
require more to be sold. . . . The distress that exists 
in this country arising from want of work is the cause 

1 I believe that enough, had now been made by the sale of tiles 
to pay for the draining of Fenton Barns. The neighbouring farms 
were by this time mostly drained, and there was no facility for 
conveying the tiles to a distance. 



108 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. ■ 

of the depression in prices ; everything is cheaper than 
it has been for years. The cattle we have sold have 
left but a poor payment. The black-faced wethers 
have done better, however. The Edinburgh butchers 
allow that we send the best-fed stock to market ; we 
are, in fact, crack feeders." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" ZOth May 1843. 

" I flatter myself we are going to have a good crop, a 
real good crop, this season ; everything promises well. 
We have sold lately twenty of our Hallow-Fair cattle ; 
they have left as much payment as I hear of any of our 
neighbours having got — still, they have not done very 
well : we have heavy oil- cake accounts, having used 
forty tons this winter. . . . Liberal farming makes our 
land now look as well as Queenston or any place else." 

Within Mr. Hope's recollection oil-cake was a sub- 
stance almost unknown in East Lothian. Speaking on 
the most profitable methods of feeding stock, he said, 
" I remember, when a child, seeing one of my father's 
men arrive from Leith with two carts of linseed-cake, 
and of his telling me, when unloading it, that when he 
passed through Prestonpans the people came out of 
their houses, wondering what he had got in the carts, 
and that he had told them it was a kind of ' bannocks.' " 
Again he said, " I recollect when I first spent £100 in 
the purchase of rape- cake and bone-dust for manure, I 
doubted if I should ever see it again. However, this 
outlay for manure was subsequently annually doubled, 
trebled, and quadrupled, and then in 1844 I bought and 
applied 100 tons of guano on a farm of 670 acres, and 



'MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE.- 109 

then, and not till then, I was satisfied with the bulk of 
my crop, and my neighbours remarked to me, ' What a 
fine farm you have got !'" 

THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

"Fenton Barns, 10th August 1843. 

" We have had a very wet and cool summer. Since 
the middle of May we have scarcely had twenty-four 
hours without copious rains, and, as might have been 
expected, our harvest will be late, though I must say 
the crops look very promising. On the evening of 
Tuesday last we had one of the heaviest rains I ever 
witnessed ; the water was running round the house as 
if a mill-burn had been turned in upon us. Since then 
we have had dry and hot weather, which will bring on 
the crops very fast and assist in making good quality. 
. . . You will see by the agricultural report in the 
Scotsman what we think generally of the crops in the 
county. I wrote the two last. [His father had before 
this written the East Lothian agricultural reports for 
the Scotsman for a number of years.] My father, I am 
sorry to tell you, was not so well two months ago, and 
though he is now better than he was before that, he is 
not so fond of writing as he was ; in fact, he will hardly 
put pen to paper, as he thinks it hurts him, so I have 
taken the business in hand. 

" We had a great party here on the Monday of last 
week, nothing less than a soiree in the granary, at which 
there were present 135 persons, men, women, and 
children, all (with the exception of five) our own people, 
working to us or living in our houses. It was quite a 
brilliant concern. We gave this ploy in lieu of the race 
[a carters' play], as that was the cause of the fall of 



110 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

many of the teetotalers last season. We had tables 
and seats in the granary, a couple of tea-pots to each 
table, and all got as much tea and bread-and-butter as 
they chose. We had a few select guests : Mr. Edwin 
Blyth, his niece and nephew ; also Mr. George Harris, 
jun., and Mr. E. Smiles from Haddington. I made a 
short address, and then, after a few reels, we had 
strawberries, sugar, and cream. The tables were then 
removed, and we had dancing, songs, and recitations to 
our hearts' content. Mr. Smiles was a great assistance 
from his amusing recitations. Altogether it was a 
scene of unmixed pleasure, and there were neither broken 
heads that evening nor headaches next morning. It has 
been the subject of much comment. None of the folks 
had previously thought it possible they could be happy 
unless they had drink, but they now all confess that 
there never was ' a race ' to be compared with it. A 
description of it has been inserted in the Weekly 
Chronicle. I am unaware of the writer, but should 
suppose Mr. Smiles. 

" John has been at home for three weeks, and is to 
remain two weeks longer, so he is having a long stay 
this season, much to all our comfort. 

" Do you know anything of Mesmerism ? It forms 
the great topic of public discourse at the present time. 
I have been at several lectures on the subject at Had- 
dington, as well as at private exhibitions, and am now 
perfectly convinced of the truth of phreno-mesmerism. 
Last night we operated here on Andrew Whitehead; 
he was set asleep, and spoke, although he did not 
respond readily to the touch of the different organs. 
John and I were at Drem on Wednesday, and W. Eeid 
operated on the schoolmaster there, and also on a boy, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. Ill 

with very fair success. It is a most astonishing thing, 
and is a complete proof of the truth of Phrenology. 
The individuals require to be mesmerised several times 
before they respond readily. Subjects can be set asleep 
easily by being seated in quietness, and the operator 
holding his two fingers near but above the eyes of the 
patient, who must gaze steadily upon them for a short 
time, say from three minutes to thirty minutes. On 
the eyes being closed, pass the hand repeatedly over 
the head and face, and down the body; the same 
being done down the arms will make them perfectly 
rigid. Blowing in the face or waving a handkerchief 
awakes the patient." 

In the autumn of this year, as Mr. Cobden and Mr. 
Bright were expected to speak at Free-trade meetings 
at different towns in Scotland, it was resolved to invite 
them to address a meeting at Haddington. This they 
agreed to do provided they received a requisition signed 
by, I think, eighteen persons. It seems almost incre- 
dible that there could be any difficulty in getting so 
small a number of persons to sign such a requisition, 
but it was less easy than might be imagined, and 
although George Hope ultimately succeeded in pro- 
curing twenty-four or twenty-five signatures, he had 
a good deal of trouble in doing so, and met with many 
refusals to sign from the enlightened inhabitants of the 
county of Haddington. 

FROM MR. COBDEN TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

" Manchestee, 2d October 1843. 

" My dear Sir, — Fix your own hour for Friday, Oct. 
27th, and Bright and I will be with you. Have you 
any objections to my publishing the requisitionists' 



112 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

names in the League paper ? Our friend Mr. M'Laren 
advised me to go to Dalkeith on the Saturday after 
your meeting. Do you think it would be worth while 
to hold another meeting so near yours ? I fear it would 
be impossible for us to hold an evening's town meeting, 
but we will try what human strength can do." 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

" Bright and I shall be at Durham on Tuesday, and 
we have no engagement between that and Friday at 
Haddington. We shall proceed straight to you on 
Wednesday, and shall have a couple of days in which 
we should like to see some of your good farming, and 
meet some of your intelligent farmers. I shall be glad 
if you will make what arrangements you can to enable 
us to see and learn as much as possible in a short 
time." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, 13th November 1843. 
" I sent you newspapers with a full account of the 
grand Free-trade demonstration we had at Haddington 
on the 27th of October. As you will see all the 
speeches, I need not say anything of them. Our 
meeting took place on a Friday ; and on the afternoon 
of the previous Wednesday I went up to Haddington 
in Mr. Miller of Newhouse's noddy, and met Messrs. 
Cobden, Bright, and Ashworth (who came from New- 
castle that day by the Union), and brought them down 
to Fenton Barns. It was betwixt eight and nine 
o'clock when we got here. Mr. Miller, Newhouse, Mr. 
Waterston, and Mr. Dixon had drunk tea with my 
father, and were waiting our arrival. We then had 






• MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 113 

tea and supper, and spent a very happy evening, and 
we are not a little proud that the very embodiment of 
the far-famed League should have taken up its abode 
at Fenton Barns. The next morning, after breakfast, 
we took a turn through the farm. Mr. Miller and Mr. 
Dixon came in the barouche of the latter, and took Mr. 
Cobden and Mr. Ash worth, while I drove Mr. Bright 
in our gig. We went over to Dirleton, and saw the 
old castle, the garden, etc. ; everything about the village 
delighted them. We then went on to North Berwick, 
and as far east as Castleton ; looked through the classic 
ruins of Tantallon, admired the Bass Bock in the dis- 
tance, and returned to Newhouse to a five-o'clock 
dinner. Mr. Cobden and Mr. Ashworth stayed with 
Mr. Miller all night ; Mr. Bright came back with me 
here, and I took him up to Haddington next day. Mr. 
Hogg's meeting-house was crammed, and hundreds 
could not get in. Every thiDg went off beautifully. 
After opening the meeting with a few remarks, I set to 
work, and took down the names of all the farmers I 
could see, and handed them to the reporters. I don't 
know what possessed the Tories, but there was only 
one hand held up against the Free-trade resolutions. 
This fact, with the list of names appearing in the 
papers, astonished the lairds and their factors, and a 
keen canvass was instituted to get as many as possible 
to sign a disclaimer of sympathy with the Free-trade 
doctrines. ... I have seen one letter to me in the 
Advertiser, but it is a miserable concern ; I don't mean 
to take any notice of it. . . . About forty dined in the 
George Inn between the two meetings, and a great 
many more would have joined had we had a dinner 
prepared. Mr. Sawers, Dunbar, was in the chair. Mr. 

H 



114 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

Cadell, Cockenzie, proposed my health in a neat speech. 
Perhaps my evening speech was a little too severe, but 
I only called things by their right names. 

" . . . . Mr. Cobden's manner in speaking is quite 
colloquial, his attitude in admirable keeping, while 
being so desperately in earnest makes him a convincing 
orator. In private he is lively and agreeable ; few can 
meet him without liking him as a man. . . . John 
Bright has more of the orator than Mr. Cobden. Though 
his speeches do not read so well as Mr. Cobden's, he is 
an effective speaker, the tone of his voice and his 
manner being very taking. . . . Mr. H. Ashworth has 
a great knowledge of facts and dates, and is a quick 
observer of what is going on about him. ... I have 
had several letters from Mr. Cobden since he was here. 
The League is going on from one triumph to another." 

On the evening that " the Leaguers " spent at Fenton 
Barns, one of them inquired of George Hope to what 
religious denomination he belonged. It so happened 
that the winners of the other two prize essays were 
Unitarians, and the Leaguer thought that here at last 
was one who was certain to be orthodox, — there could 
be no doubt, he thought, as to what would be the theo- 
logical opinions of a Scotch farmer. On learning that 
he also was a Unitarian, the Leaguer turned to his 
colleagues and expressed his surprise that " these men 
with no religion should be such philanthropists." 

George Hope's friend Mr. ShirrefT writes to him on 
the subject of the Haddington meeting : " Bright was 
very well prepared ; he had formed a high idea of the 
intelligence of his audience (I think foreigners are apt 
to over-estimate us in this respect), and he took the 
most effectual method of putting adversaries in a good 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 115 

humour with him, viz., complimenting them. Cobden's 
morning blow was a stunning one. His statement of 
the low price at which a Lothian tenant could sell grain, 
minus rent, bore out my apparently preposterous one at 
Manchester. You spoke out like a hero, very nearly as 
well as if you had denounced them as ' oppressors.' . . . 
By the way, what right had you to say that it won't do 
now for the English farmer to smoke his pipe and drink 
his ale ? Would you take even that small satisfaction 
from him ? Don't you know that the more a tenant-at- 
will works the more his landlord gets, and the more he 
himself no-gets ? I say, Smoke and drink away, stir 
not till you are sure of reaping the fruits of your 
labours." 

FROM MR. JOHN HOPE TO HIS FATHER. 

" I have been delighted to witness by the Scotsman 
that Free-trade has triumphed so signally at Hadding- 
ton. George's first speech is very appropriate. I long 
to read the account of the soiree ; I have already heard 
that there George rose above himself, and has added 
another wreath to his well-earned fame." 

In George Hope's letter to his brother, describing the 
Haddington meeting, he speaks of a canvass having 
been instituted to get the farmers to sign a disclaimer 
of sympathy with Free-trade doctrines. This canvass 
was pretty successful. The farmers of East Lothian 
were apparently terror-stricken at being supposed to 
countenance so wild and revolutionary a movement 
as that of the agitation for Free-trade. A copy of 
the manifesto published lies before me. It runs as 
follows : — 



116 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

CORN LAWS. 
County of Haddington. 

The report given by the public press of the Anti-Corn-Law 
Meeting held at Haddington on the 27th October last, being 
calculated to give a false impression of the feelings of the tenantry 
of the county of East Lothian on the subject of the Corn Laws, — 
"We, the undersigned, now most distinctly state that the sentiments 
expressed in support of the resolution adopted at the said meeting 
did not meet with our concurrence, and we protest against such 
being held as our opinion. 

We are convinced of the necessity of an adequate protection to 
British agriculture, and consider such protection absolutely re- 
quired for the benefit of the whole community, — the proprietors, 
tenantry, manufacturing and labouring classes. 

To this document the names of 160 persons, farmers 
and others in the county of Haddington, are appended. 

In afterwards speaking of the Anti-Corn-Law agita- 
tion, Mr. Hope says : " It was curious how at that 
time people approved of Free- trade in everything except 
what they sold themselves. I recollect hearing a con- 
versation which took place in a hotel in this city 
[Glasgow] shortly before the Corn Laws were repealed, 
between an arable farmer and a Highland grazier. The 
latter inveighed against the iniquity of the Corn Laws, 
which increased the price he paid for oatmeal to his 
shepherds, when our friend of the plough said he quite 
agreed with him, but he thought the prohibition against 
live-stock would be done away with before the abolition 
of the Corn Laws. " What ! ' cried our Free-trade 
grazier, ' I would just like to see the scoundrel who 
would propose to admit French wethers.' " 

About this time there appeared in The League news- 
paper a description of Fenton Barns by "One who 
Whistles at the Plough." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 117 

Mr. Cobden, in one of his notes to George Hope, tells 
an anecdote of the " Whistler." He says : " By the 
way, a very droll proof of the talent for fiction which 
' One who Whistles at the Plough' possesses has just 
occurred. He (Somerville) is the writer of some letters 
in The League signed ' Adam Brown/ purporting to he 
a Scotchman in England in quest of a farm. Well, 
Lord E. sees these letters, believes 'Adam Brown' to 
be a live man, and actually sends a letter under cover 
to George Wilson, our chairman, addressed ' Mr. Adam 
Brown.' Wilson opens the letter, and finds it is an 
offer of a farm, and his Lordship expresses a great wish 
to have Mr. Adam Brown for his tenant, if he has not 
suited himself with a farm ! ! ! Have you any Adam 
Browns who want farms? If so, our noble Leaguer 
might not make a bad landlord." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" Fenton Barns, 28lh January 1844. 

" I would have written at the end of the year, but I 
went to Aberdeen to see John at Christmas. I went 
by the mail through Fife to Dundee, by railroad to 
Arbroath, and then horses again forward to Aberdeen. 
I got there on the Saturday evening and left on the 
Wednesday morning. I was much pleased with my 
visit. It is a fine city, though not to be compared to 
Edinburgh. The good folks of John's congregation 
were particularly kind to me as the minister's brother. 
. . . When I came home I had the report to write for 
the Scotsman, and being the close of the year it was 
longer than usual. I also wrote an analysis of 160 
names which appeared in the newspapers to a document 
stating they were East Lothian farmers wishing for 



118 MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 

Protection. I went over the parishes alphabetically, 
stating how many farmers there were in each, how 
many had signed, and how many had not ; the quantity 
of land held by each, who were the landlords, etc. This 
paper made a good deal of noise, both from its being an 
exposure, and from its general correctness. It cost me 
some trouble. I wish you had seen both it and the 
report, but I sent it, as usual, to Aberdeen, when lo ! 
John was on his way here, and of course could not send 
it away. Mr. F. of Greenock had engaged to go north 
for a Sunday, so John took the opportunity of coming 
to pay us a visit and be with us on Old Hansel Monday. 
(Do you keep that day in Canada ?) We were delighted 
to see him, but you missed the paper by that means. 
On the first Sunday of this month I dined with Charles 
Maclaren, the editor of the Scotsman, and on the day of 
the Anti-Corn-Law soiree in Edinburgh Mr. Miller, 
Newhouse, and I stayed with him all night. I dined 
that day with Mr. Wigham, along with Messrs. Cobden, 
Bright, Moore, and Colonel Thompson. Mr. Moore is 
a young-looking man; his head is small, but neatly 
formed ; he speaks very loud, with great gesticulation, 
but his speaking has not the same effect upon you as 
the calm earnestness and strong reasoning appeals of 
Mr. Cobden. Mr. Bright was labouring under a sore 
throat, and yet at the meeting the audience rose again 
and again en masse and cheered; he is the favourite 
with the masses. Colonel Thompson speaks forcibly, 
and has an immense head. At Mr. Wigham's dinner 
there were present, besides these four, Mr. Duncan 
M'Laren, a Mr. Kellogg from Illinois (a brother-in-law 
of Mr. Wigham's), another young man and myself, 
besides six ladies. I went in a chaise with Mr. Cobden 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 119 

to the meeting, and had a seat of honour upon the 
platform near the chair. Next to me there was a chair 
and plate with Mr. Harris's name upon it, but he went 
with his wife and daughters to the body of the hall, so 
Mr. Miller, Newhouse, stepped across the chairs and 
took Mr. H.'s seat. The new Music Hall, where the 
meeting was held, is the finest room I ever saw ; they 
say there is nothing equal to it in either Dublin or 
London. It was quite crowded; the tickets, which 
were originally sold at a shilling, were selling on the 
day of the meeting at 7 s. 6d. 

"Mr. Watterston, Balgone Barns, told Mr. Cobden 
how his father was treated by Sir George Warrender. 
This was denied by Mr. Murray, Sir George's Edinburgh 
agent. I assisted Mr. Watterston in writing a reply, 
which you will see in last Wednesday's Scotsman. It 
is an awful exposure. Mr. Murray has attempted to 
reply. I spent yesterday afternoon with Mr. W. writing 
again, showing up the discrepancies between his first 
and last letters, so that I should think Mr. Murray 
will not again enter the lists with Mr. Watterston as 
an opponent. Mr. W. is not accustomed to write for 
the press, and is rather inclined to use hard language, 
but he took my advice and dealt in facts, leaving the 
inferences to the readers. Sir G. Warrender has left 
our Agricultural Society because there are members of 
it writers and speakers for the League. The aristocracy 
here are now in sad alarm. They are forming a Pro- 
tection Society, which you will see by the papers. I 
went to their meeting out of curiosity, like many others, 
and a poor affair it was; not one-twentieth of the 
meeting ever cheered." 

Here follow a few lines written by Eobert Hope, and 



120 MEMOIK OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

then George Hope continues : " The above note from 
my father is the only thing he has written for a long 
time, with the exception of another short letter. [He 
never wrote again.] I think he would do better were 
he to try it oftener, but he feels a difficulty in express- 
ing himself. He rides on horseback every day round 
the farm, as usual. . . . We shall require to thrash 
two stacks of white corn every week to get the barn- 
yard clear for the next crop ; it is turning out very 
fairly, and the rise that has taken place in the markets 
will enable us to do better this year than ever we have 
done. ... I had a message from Mrs. Ferguson, through 
Colonel Ferguson, thanking me for the handsome way 
I had spoken of her at our Haddington meeting. Some 
thought I was doing myself a wrong by taking a lead 
there ; you see it is otherwise." 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

" 29th February 1844. 
" I am glad you are pleased with the account of the 
proceedings at the Haddington Anti- Corn-Law meeting, 
and with the part that I bore in the same. You will 
see by the papers the stir the lairds are making through- 
out the kingdom ; and I am glad of this, as, if they did 
not feel that the tide was setting strongly against them, 
they would treat the League with the contempt they 
used to do. I send herewith a copy of the League 
paper with O'Connell's speech at Covent Garden Theatre, 
which is interesting in the present circumstances. At 
a great meeting at Manchester at the beginning of -the 
month, Mr. Cobden told the assembled thousands that 
the most patriotic thing any constituency could do at 
the next general election would be to elect me ! ! ! or 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 121 

some other tenant-farmer, to the House of Commons. 
I would require a pretty large slice of the £100,000 to 
begin with. 

" I do not know if you noticed the letters written by 
Mr. Watterston of Balgone Barns, headed ' Sir G-eo. 
Warrender and his Tenants.' They have created a good 
deal of talk in this neighbourhood. The editorial re- 
marks in the Scotsman on the summing up of the ques- 
tion were written by me, and I flatter myself it was a 
tolerably good imitation of the great * we.' The letter 
in the same paper on the hinds' wages was also mine. 

" We are going to have a very busy summer of it, as 
it has been resolved to knock down old Fenton and 
rebuild it in the Bog-heads, a little to the north of 
Crawford's-land. The plan of the new steading looks 
very well ; in fact, we have only to say where we want 
it altered to have it done. The old house where we 
first saw light will be left standing, and the row of 
cottages where J. B. lives ; every stone of the others 
will be taken down. The road along the head of the 
Darney-potts will require to be laid with metal, and. 
the hedge at the top of the field lifted north. The 
buildings will cost, I should think, upwards of £600. 
We do the carriages, supply all the roofing-tile necessary, 
and also give the sixty, yards of roofing at present in 
our tile-shed. All the stones are to be new, out of 
Eattle-bags quarry, as the old stones at Fenton are not 
fit to build with. All this will put us to both trouble 
and expense, but it must be a great improvement when 
done. ... Our stackyard is still large ; we shall have 
some difficulty in effecting a clearance before harvest. 

"The last time I was in Edinburgh I dined again 
with Mr. Charles Maclaren. He and I are now great 



122 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

friends. I am going into town on Saturday with Mr. 
Watterston to dine and stay the night with Mr. H. 
You must understand that both Mr. W. and I are at 
present lions in our way." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO THE SECRETARY OF THE 
LIVERPOOL ANTI-MONOPOLY ASSOCIATION. 

" \Zth March 1844. 

" Sir, — I have had the honour to receive the invita- 
tion from the Council of the Liverpool Anti-Monopoly 
Association to be present at the Free-trade Banquet on 
the 11th April. I regret that circumstances prevent 
me from accepting it, as otherwise I should have been 
delighted to have had the opportunity of hearing ad- 
dresses from the gentlemen who usually speak at your 
monthly meetings. ... I should have liked to have 
told you personally of the mighty advance that Free- 
trade principles have made within this last twelve 
months amongst my own class, the farmers of the 
Lothians : how they were formerly deluded with the 
idea that Parliament could enable them to realise high 
prices ; how high rents were promised to be paid by 
reason of this notion, and misery and ruin was brought 
on family after family, until mitigated by the adoption 
of grain-rents. 1 We now find that our best seasons are 
those of low prices for the first necessaries of life. It is 
true that many, from their positions, are afraid to speak 
their sentiments, but I know their warmest wishes are 
for the success of the enlightened and philanthropic 

1 The rent of Fen ton Barns, in common with that of most other 
farms in the county, was afterwards changed from a corn to a 
money rent ; and this my father latterly preferred, although he 
continued to think that the corn rents had been of great advantage 
to farmers previous to the abolition of the Corn Laws. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 123 

principles that unite your Association. It is to the 
towns that they look for deliverance from the shackles 
that now bind, both morally and politically, so many of 
my order in degrading vassalage. For their sakes and 
my own I sincerely wish you God- speed." 

While sympathising keenly with all struggles against 
tyranny and injustice wherever they existed, it was to 
efforts for the destruction of the monopolies and unjust 
privileges enjoyed by landowners that, being the duty 
which lay nearest him, he principally devoted himself. 
He considered it the deepest degradation for any one 
to refrain from the expression of his opinions, or to alter 
them by one hair's-breadth, for fear of the displeasure 
of any man, however numerous his acres. In his life- 
long labours for his class, this was the aim which he 
ever had in view, — that the members of it should be 
delivered from the degrading bondage of voting at the 
bidding of their landlords, or of thinking that their 
landlords had any concern whatever with their convic- 
tions or the expression of them ; for, in his opinion, the 
convictions of a rational being could not be property, 
and he thought that when a man took a farm he under- 
took to pay a rent, not to sell his liberty of speech and 
vote. In comparison with this deliverance, he con- 
sidered that any material benefit which might accrue 
to tenant-farmers from the attainment of the reforms 
which he advocated was but as dust in the balance. 

Up to this time of his life he was considered by his 
acquaintances to be grave and silent. He took life too 
much in earnest to have much heart for the inanities 
of small- talk. His own account of himself was that he 
"never thought of speaking a word unless he heard 



124 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

people saying something which he did not agree with, 
when he at once attacked them with the view of setting, 
them right." In after life he became much more soci- 
able. The pressure of constant anxiety as to whether or 
not he should be able to make anything of his farm was 
lifted off, and his own surroundings became more cheer- 
ful. Judging from his letters, it appears to me that he 
always took a wonderfully cheerful view of matters, 
considering the depressing influences that surrounded 
him ; but he has often said that the older he grew, the 
happier he became. His hatred of monopolies and of 
all unjust laws continued unabated to the. end, and 
even his energy in doing what he could for their de- 
struction did not diminish, but he came to feel more 
strongly that if a man does his utmost to bring about 
their downfall, he can do no more, and that it is useless 
for him to brood over evils which it is out of his power 
to prevent. He had an unwavering faith that all the 
reforms which he advocated would come in time, 
whether it might be in his time or not, but he did not 
expect them to come without being worked for, and he 
never shrank from the performance of any duty, how- 
ever uncongenial, which might hasten the dawn of a 
brighter day. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

And as for their observation of that called the Sabbath, we find none 
more plead for it than profane light men and women, for they can easily 
dispense to hear a man talk for an hour or two, and then have all the rest 
of the day to dispense in idleness, vain communication and frequenting 
the ale-house, and decking themselves with vain apparel. 

Eobeet Barclay of Urie. 

FEOM MR. C. SHIEEEFF TO ME. GEOEGE HOPE. 

" 20th February 1844. 

"I received yours of the 2d in due course. . . . 
You suppose I will now take a farm, and you say, c You. 
and I will try which will get a wife first/ Like Tony 
Weller, you seem resolved to do something desperate. 
His ultimate resource was a pipe ; yours, a wife. I 
begin to doubt your courage. This everlasting talk and 
no cider is too much in the ' haud-me-or-I'll-fecht ' style. 
I shall believe you are serious when I get cards." 

A number of George Hope's acquaintances had for 
long been much concerned that he was still unmarried, 
and several different friends had fixed upon several 
different young ladies whom they thought would suit. 
His own opinion on the subject of marriage was that it 
was a step to be taken with great caution, and he had 
determined that any idea on his part of taking unto 
himself a wife was to be preceded by a long and intimate 
acquaintance, not only with the lady herself, but with 



126 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

her mother. He did not, however, fulfil this determi- 
nation, and he appears to have suddenly forgotten all 
about the necessity of a long previous acquaintance 
with one's future wife and her mother. 

In April 1844 he writes to his brother an announce- 
ment of his intended nuptials. He commences his letter 
with a long and minute account of a new steading which 
was then being built for the west side of his farm, and 
he continues : " The result of our last year's crop has 
been good. We have still a great quantity of grain to 
dispose of, besides stock, and before harvest we should 
have something handsome beforehand — the first time 
since I began farming that I could really say so. I do not 
know whether this has had any effect in bringing about 
the news I am now going to tell you. I am going to 
get a wife. . . . The lady's name is Isabella Peterkin ; 
she is a daughter of Mr. Peterkin, a solicitor in Edin- 
burgh, known throughout Scotland for his teasing the 
poor ' nons! I daresay you must have noticed his name 
in the Church Courts { taking instruments and protesting' 
I hope he won't protest against me. I do not know 
how he will relish Unitarianism ; his daughter thinks 
with me on the subject." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"25th June 1844. 

"... I mentioned in my last that I was going to 
get married. It is fixed to take place on the 8th of 
July. . . . Her father being an elder of the Kirk insists 
on the ceremony being performed by a Kirk minister, 
so I must submit to this. ... On the 8th of this month 
we had a picnic party on Fidra. It was the first time 
I had ever been there, and I had no idea it was so well 



MEMOIE OF GEOEGE HOPE. 127 

worth seeing. The tide was back, so we got easily 
through the arch, which from the north has a most 
magnificent appearance. The whole of the north 
side of the island is perpendicular. We had a party 
of fourteen ; the day was beautiful, and everybody was 
delighted. 

" The hinds' houses at the new steading are nearly 
up. They are going to be splendid affairs ; indeed, it 
will be a superior set of offices altogether. The build- 
ings cost Mrs. Ferguson £750. We have not yet bought 
a steam-engine, but will do so in a week or two. We 
are to put up a new mill also. The driving of the 
stones, lime, etc., is a very heavy business ; the mason 
says it will take at least 1600 carts of stones. 

"You would see the discussion on the Dissenters' 
Chapels Bill, and what a fright it has put the saints 
into. I got up a petition here, which was signed by the 
Chief Magistrates of Haddington and North Berwick, 
the majority of the Town Council of Haddington, and a 
great many respectable farmers, to the number altogether 
of seventy, got on a Thursday and a Friday. I sent 
the petition away on Saturday to Fox Maule. I had 
written him at the same time a strong letter, declar- 
ing it robbery to seize upon our chapels, saying no 
true Liberal could oppose the Bill; that theological 
hatred made the priests forget common honesty, etc., 
etc. The boy who took this to the post brought back 
the Scotsman, and what was my astonishment to see 
Fox Maule's appearance at Exeter Hall ! I had to 
write him again telling him I meant no offence. He 
wrote me politely that he had handed the petition to 
Mr. Macaulay, and had no wish, or reason, to take 
offence. I have had some correspondence lately with 



128 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Mr. Bright about the Game Laws, which he intends 
bringing before Parliament." 

FROM MR. JOHN HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" Fenton Barns, 31st July. 
" I have now been four weeks at Fenton Barns. The 
primary object of this my visit was to witness George 
knit in bands of holy wedlock to Miss Peterkin. I 
attended that ceremony, and returned to Fenton Barns 
the same night with J. in the gig. On the following 
Sunday George and his better-half arrived at their 
mutual home. Until a day or two before the marriage 
I never had the pleasure of seeing the selected. More 
intimate acquaintance leaves the most favourable im- 
pression of her character. If George had searched every 
corner betwixt Dan and Beersheba, he could scarcely 
have obtained a wife so every way suiting his own 
character. This is saying much, but it is the truth." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" Fenton Barns, 25th July 1844. 
" .... As John was here with my father, my wife 
and I took a marriage tour. We were at Ayr, and went 
over ' the land of Burns/ The monument and the 
grounds round it are very pretty. The original statues 
of Tarn o' Shanter and Souter Johnny are now placed 
in a lodge in the grounds. 'Alloway's auld haunted 
kirk ' is close to it, on the north-west side of the grounds, 
and the Brig is on the south. We were also in the 
cottage where Burns was born. We went from Ayr to 
Dumbarton, and we were on the top of Dumbarton 
Castle. We sailed up Loch Lomond, through its many 
isles and magnificent scenery. At the head of it we 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 129 

went up the river Falloch, and returned as far as Inver- 
snaid, where we landed and crossed over to Loch 
Katrine, the scene of Scott's Lady of the Lake. We 
walked through the Trossachs, the most beautiful 
scenery I ever beheld, and stopped at Mrs. Stewart's 
inn on the side of Loch Achray. I walked through 
the Trossachs to Loch Katrine before breakfast, and 
again after breakfast with Isabella. We afterwards 
went to Callander and Doune, and on to Stirling. We 
surveyed the country and the windings of the Forth 
from the Castle, and saw the sun set behind Ben 
Lomond and Ben Venue, and many other Bens whose 
names I forget. It was a sunset indelibly fixed on my 
memory. We sailed down the Firth in a steamer on 
the Saturday, but it rained torrents the whole way, 
so we saw but little ; however, it was the only bad 
day we had, so we had no reason to complain. We 
went to St. Mark's on the Sunday forenoon, and came 
home in the evening, the gig having come in for us that 
morning. . . . My father takes a ride every day, but 
he does not improve. You need not take any notice 
of this in your letters, for he likes to hear them read 
again and again." 

Mrs. Hope writes : " You ask me to describe Fenton 
Barns as it struck me on first seeing it. This ought 
not to be difficult, being, as it is, so vividly impressed 
on my memory, and yet it feels nearly impossible to 
give in words the whole picture as it lay before me that 
first evening when I drove up to the door of my future 
home. A summer evening, — a glowing sun shining on 
the windows of the pleasant, cheerful sitting-room, — 
jessamine, with damask and China roses climbing all 
about the'walls and looking in at the windows ; — but why 

I 



130 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

should I try to describe what has ever seemed to me the 
very beau-ide'al of a sweet, simple, home-like dwelling ? 
A wide gravel walk, with a wealth of nicely -kept privet 
hedges, divided the ground near the house into portions 
of shrubbery, and flower and kitchen gardens. Nothing 
of the barn-yard was to be seen, but the house com- 
manded an extensive view. Aberlady Bay lay like a 
silver streak in the west, with Arthur's Seat and the 
Pentland Hills beyond, and around the house nothing 
intervened to hide the fields, then in all the richness of 
their summer growth. The large fields, with hedges by 
no means overgrown, struck me at first as peculiar and 
prosaic, but after a time I came to look upon them as 
just right, giving one the feeling of space, and air, and 
room for the fruits of the earth to come to perfection. 
This portion of East Lothian has a character peculiarly 
its own. The land being so extremely level, with few 
or no trees, seems to give a greater point to the distant 
hills. The Garletons, which, although not high, are of 
fine outline, lie to the south, about five miles distant, 
and further away, in the same direction, the Lammer- 
moor Hills, with their ever-changing lights and shadows, 
form a background of no ordinary interest." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" 29^ December 1844. 

" I may here call your attention to a criticism which 
appeared in the Scotsman fourteen days ago on ' The 
Agriculture of Norfolk/ It is the first review of a book 
that I ever wrote. John addressed the paper to you, 
and he seemed pleased with it, and hoped you would 
know who wrote it. Mr. Maclaren sent me the book, 
and asked me to do it, as the writer was the editor of a 



MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 131 

Liberal Norwich paper, and a friend of his, but he him- 
self did not understand the subject treated of. The 
first Friday after it was printed one farmer came to me 
in Haddington market, telling me we should get the 
book for our Agricultural Society's library, as he had 
read a review of it in the Scotsman, and it said so-and- 
so. I kept my secret, but I could scarcely help 
laughing. 

" We have had a good deal of frost this month, 
during which we were busy making roads, etc., round 
our new premises, and rendering the site of our old 
ones fit to bear a crop. The whole foundations have 
been dug up, except the pigeon-house, which we intend 
leaving as it is. A few stones are still to drive away, 
and then it will be fit for the plough. A part of it on 
the bare rock we have covered with earth to the depth 
of fifteen inches. We have had some difficulty in dis- 
posing of part of the stones, their immense size and 
weight rendering them unwieldy, and totally unfit to 
build with again. Our new mill and engine, and the 
whole premises, continue to give great satisfaction. ... I 
may tell you how much my altered state has added to 
my happiness, and my father, too, seems much pleased 
with the addition to our domestic comfort. He con- 
tinues much in his usual, generally going about the 
doors, and taking a ride in a gig once a day, weather 
permitting." 

From his earliest youth George Hope had been in 
the habit of making agricultural experiments, and one 
which he tried about this time deserves to be men- 
tioned. A certain individual published a statement 
that he had made a great discovery in the science of 



132 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

agriculture ; a discovery of nothing less than a means 
of growing corn by electricity. This he said was done 
by setting up in a circle a number of long poles at 
equal distances from each other, and connecting them 
by a wire, which must rest on the ground. The poles 
were supposed to catch the electricity, while the wire 
was to keep it within the space encircled by the poles ; 
and the Discoverer declared that corn which was grown 
in this enclosure was greatly superior to that which 
grew outside. This experiment was tried at Fenton 
Barns, with the result that might have been expected, 
namely, that there was no difference whatever between 
the crops inside and those outside of the space sur- 
rounded by the poles and wire. Two gentlemen from 
East Lothian went to inspect this experiment as it 
appeared on the premises of the Discoverer, and they 
reported that there was no doubt that the crops inside 
were superior to those outside the erection, but that 
they had (in the absence of the Discoverer) been in- 
formed by a boy on the farm that the ground inside 
the poles had been " weel mucket." Mr. Hope then 
wrote to a newspaper which had published an account 
of the extraordinary discovery. He said he believed it 
to be nonsense ; and mentioned his reasons for thinking 
so. The Discoverer thereupon wrote to the same news- 
paper in great wrath, upholding his discovery, upon 
which the newspaper made an apology for having in- 
serted Mr. Hope's letter, a good deal to his indignation. 
Several persons who tried this experiment of growing 
corn by electricity were rather ashamed of it, and 
erected the poles on parts of their farms which were 
not much exposed to view ; some even thought of trying 
to make-believe that the poles were intended for clothes- 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE, 133 

posts, but the idea of trying to conceal his experiment 
never occurred to George Hope, and his " electric poles " 
were placed in a field close to the public road, where 
they attracted a good deal of attention, and gave rise to 
much speculation as to what they could be meant for 
on the part of passers-by. 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"27th January 1845. 

" Surely H. gives you too much of your own way, or 
she would have the next called after her side of the 
house. You have now two names on your side ; you 
should recollect she has some claims in the matter. . . . 

" Before you get this you will have heard that Sir 
Charles Metcalfe has got a peerage, and that Sir Henry 
Pottinger is your new Governor-General. The Liberals 
here think Sir Henry should have been sent to India, 
where he would have done an immense deal of good, 
and that shipping him to Canada is a quiet way of 
putting him on the shelf. His services in China 
rendered it impossible but that something should be 
done for him, though he is a Liberal ; but I think it 
fortunate for Canada that it has got such a man. 

" Your letter to my dear wife gave both her and me 
much pleasure. She expects before the end of next 
month to have a few lines, at least, ready for sister 
H. She writes easily and readily, but she bustles 
about in her cares for the household, and is ever busy 
after something. We enjoy as much happiness as falls 
to the lot of mortals. My father keeps in pretty good 
health, and seldom misses a drive in the gig once a day. 
Some days we go round by Kingston, Congleton, and 
Drem, to inspect the progress of the railway ; other 



134 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

days we go by Ballencrieff and Mungos wells, as all 
along that line of road the contractors are busy; in 
some places the rails are already laid. There is little 
doubt but that the whole will be finished before the 
time fixed on, viz., Whitsunday come a twelvemonth. 
When that takes place we shall get from Edinburgh to 
Drem in half an hour. 

" I once tried gypsum on Fenton Barns, but never on 
Linkhouse. I have given up all intention of ever 
ploughing more any part of the Links, but should the 
gypsum succeed I may still be tempted. We now 
reckon, and it is generally admitted, that Fenton Barns 
is one of the crack farms in the county. Nobody raises 
bulkier crops than we do, neither should they, however 
high-rented their land may be ; we have done and are 
doing a great deal for it." 

FROM MR. ARTHUR MORSE TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

"Swaffham, February I4=th, 1845. 

" My dear Sir, — It has occurred to me that our law 
of distraint in England has a very prejudicial effect on 
agriculture. I am anxious to know whether the same 
law prevails in Scotland. Here the landlord may seize 
for as many years' rents as are due, and if he succeeds 
in turning the effects into money before an execution 
is levied by any other creditor, he takes the whole. In 
the event of a bankruptcy following, he only gets one 
year's rent, and unless his debts are of a certain amount 
a man cannot be made a bankrupt. It is a daily 
nuisance with us that tradesmen and others are sufferers 
while the landlord sweeps all. It appears to me that 
it has this effect : it leads landlords to let farms to the 
highest bidder, without regard to having men of sub- 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 135 

stance ; and men of straw will invariably give a higher 
rent than anybody else. ... It encourages the excess 
of game, which could not exist with a rich and inde- 
pendent tenantry. . . . Farmers have the power in their 
own hands of doing away with the game nuisance if 
they did but use it. — Hoping to see you in Norfolk in 
summer, believe me, very truly yours, 

" Arthur Morse." 

from mr. cobden to mr. george hope. 

" Manchester, 21st October 1844. 
" My dear Sir, — It is long since I had the pleasure 
of hearing any news from you or your excellent neigh- 
bours. What is the news in the Lothians ? I hope 
you are all doing well with corn-rents and heavy crops. 
The English farmers are, I fear, in as bad a plight as 
ever, and they appear to me to want the spirit and 
intelligence to save themselves from ruin. I was in 
hopes that the promised measure of Sir James Graham's 
respecting the Game Laws, in the next session, would 
have drawn out some of the English farmers who are 
writhing under the nuisance, but it is quite clear that 
as a class they are helpless. They, in fact, constitute 
the only body of men in England who dare not stir 
without the bidding of their masters even in defence 
of their own interests. What has been done in the 
registration for the Haddington burghs ? Is there any 
chance of returning a Liberal Free-trader ? Give my 
respects to your father and to your lady, whose acquaint- 
ance I hope to have the pleasure of making, and 
remember me to your neighbourly circle, and believe 
me, yours faithfully, Eichard Cobden." 



136 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 



FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

"London, 6th February 1845. 
" I have sent you a copy of the Mark Lane Express, 
in which you will find a letter referring to the lahourers 
of your districts, and to the relationship between 
landlords and tenants. You might render a service to 
sound principles by writing a letter in reply, showing 
the advantages of corn-rents in meeting the fluctuations 
of prices caused by the sliding scale, and at the same 
time do justice to your labourers, who are superior in 
every respect to the peasantry of the south. . . . You 
will see by the letters to the Mark Lane Express on the 
subject of corn-rents and leases, that I have managed 
to raise the discussion in that paper, which is all I 
wanted, and you will be doing a good service in keep- 
ing alive the controversy." 

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 

" Manchester, 8th May. 
" Your report in the Scotsman has furnished me with 
an excellent extract for my letter to the Mark Lane 
Express, which will appear in the next number. I 
have sent you two papers containing K.'s second letter, 
and some other choice specimens of the ' intelligence ! 
of the English farmers. After you have seen my reply 
in the next week's papers I hope you will be able to 
say something to enlighten the dense understandings of 
the readers of the Express. It is desirable to keep the 
discussion in that paper which goes among the English 
farmers." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 137 



FROM MR GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" 27th April 1845. 

" The old stack-yard at Fenton as well as the site 
of the old buildings is all sown. I scarcely expected 
ever to see a crop growing where the brew-house 
once was. It cost a large sum taking up the old 
foundations. 

" It was curious that you should have recognised my 
style in the review of ' The Agriculture of Norfolk.' It 
was the first thing of the kind I ever tried. I have 
written since a notice of 'The Diary of Lady Willoughby.' 
It was printed in the supplement to the Scotsman a 
fortnight ago ; I sent the supplement to the author, 
Mrs. Eathbone of Liverpool ; her son gave the book to 
my wife, and told us his mother had written it, and it 
was a book I was much pleased with. A fortnight ago 
there was a reply in the Mark Lane Express to a letter 
of mine which appeared in that paper early in February 
on Leases and Corn-rents ; my reply will appear in to- 
morrow's paper. I am sorry that I cannot send you 
these papers, as I have to keep them in case of a further 
attack. A year ago I insured my life in the Scottish 
Provident, and at the annual meeting a few weeks ago 
I seconded a motion and made a few remarks. They 
printed them and sent them in circular to the folks in 
Edinburgh, and have advertised it in the local adver- 
tisers here. I send it enclosed. There is nothing in it 
after all, and I daresay you will think me most egotis- 
tical in writing all this, but I know you like to hear all 
that I do ; that is my excuse." 

He was afterwards for many years a Director in this 
Institution, in which capacity he was considered "an 



138 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

able and judicious adviser of great practical experience." 
He took much interest in its welfare, and " The Scot- 
tish Provident," and what he regarded as its points of 
superiority to all other insurance offices, were always 
favourite topics of conversation with him. He thought 
it every man's duty to insure his life, and his dislike to 
anything like inequality in the division of a man's 
property amongst his children made him think it (in 
the circumstances in which farmers are usually placed) 
a still more imperative duty on their part than on that 
of others. He says : " On starting in life they usually 
embark on a farm their whole capital, the division of 
which, should death take place, could only be made at 
an immense sacrifice ; or if not so divided, some may be 
deprived of what they had a fair title to expect, or 
perhaps a just claim to. Now, were a moderate sum 
set aside by saving from the annual expenditure, a 
provision would be made sure for other branches, when 
the lease and stocking on the farm might honestly 
descend to one." Again, he says : " I have known 
several whose farms after their death had been enabled 
to be carried on at a profit, which would not have been 
the case had they not left a life insurance policy." 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

" 12th May 1845. 

" We were not a little delighted by the safe arrival 
of Charles on the evening of Saturday the 10th. We 
knew that the ' Great Western' was expected on Thurs- 
day or Friday, and we felt disappointed at receiving no 
word by post on Saturday. I thought it possible that 
Charles might come by the North Berwick coach in 
the evening, and walked about looking towards the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 139 

Dirleton road until I thought it past coach- time, so I 
came into the house and began to read the Scotsman to 
my father, at which occupation I had not been many 
minutes when Charles passed the window. The blinds 
were down, but I got a glimpse of him, so out I ran 
and shook him once more by the hand." 

FROM MR. CHARLES HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, \2th May 1845. 
" I got safe and sound to old Fenton Barns on Satur- 
day night the 10th inst. by the North Berwick coach. 
. . . My father was pleased, of course, to see me. . . . 
George looks 25 per cent, better, that is, smarter and 
younger, than when I saw him last, though whether 
Isabella has had any hand in this improvement I know 
not." 

FROM MR. JOHN HOPE TO HIS FATHER. 

" I am surprised about the railway to North Berwick. 
The inhabitants of that city have a good idea of them- 
selves. They should try an omnibus in the first place. 
A railway to North Berwick seems a most chimerical 
idea. What traffic can the f bodies ' expect ? I would 
like to see their prospectus. 

" We have been disappointed about our school. As 
yet we are still minus a schoolroom. It was apparently 
got, but when Mr. M. went to-day to get it settled, and 
informed Mrs. Wilcox that it was the Unitarian minister 
that she had to deal with, she refused further negotia- 
tion, saying that sooner than give the room to us, she 
would see it in flames. . . . 

"Does George remember 'Zion Church'? It is 
occupied by Mr. Hart. He told his hearers an amus- 



140 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

ing story the other evening about me. He ' met the 
Unitarian minister/ he said, ' the other day upon the 
street, and shook hands with him and wished him well, 
but desiring to discuss some points with him, he blazed 
up in a fury, waved his hand, and walked off, saying 
" No, no, no ! ! !" ' This was told in the midst of a 
lecture against Unitarianism, and was looked upon as a 
signal victory over that ilk. To make the story appear 
veritable, he described my outer man, and stated that 
I was ' well-favoured.' The whole story is imaginary, 
save and except this last item. . . . The Aberdeen 
people are notorious for transmuting their own fancies 
into actual facts. . . . 

" George's report I have read and sent to America. 
He is somewhat short, but very well upon the whole. 
'The nick of time ' is a phrase scarcely within the line 
classical. . . ." 

FROM MR. C. SHIRREFF TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

" 17th May 1845. 

" How do you feel as a father ? When a little boy 
I shot a wild goose. The ploughs were going in an 
adjoining field, and one of the men stopped his plough 
and cried to another, ' Eh man ! I'se warrant he's a full 
member the noo.' Do you feel anything in that way ?" 

The first time his eldest child was out of doors, 
George Hope carried it himself round the garden, 
thereby greatly exciting the compassion of a man 
known by the name of "Daft Jock," who evidently 
thought his master had come to a sad pass when he 
was reduced to taking an infant out for a walk, and 
who followed him about, saying, in tones expressive 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 141 

of the greatest commiseration — " Eh, puir man ! puir 
fallow ! Is 't come to that wi' ye ! Is 't come to that 
wi' ye !" 

FROM MR. C. SHIRREFF TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

" 1st October 1845. 

" My dear George, — I have just received yours of 
the 28th ulto. ... I would have been a most unsuit- 
able person for the situation, as the previous factor was 
dismissed because he was a Liberal in politics ! I don't 
at present feel inclined to change any of my creeds for 
all the landlords in this world or the next (if there are 
any there). A factorship is a very desirable berth so 
far as the certainty of pay is concerned, and yet from 
what I have seen and heard of the whims of big men, 
it is dear bought by an independent man. 

"... I don't think there is much chance for this 
here country of ours till the lairds cease to have a 
preponderance in Parliament. Cobden tells us what 
poor devils they are in Parliament, and I wish he 
would only move for a committee of Scotch farmers to 
make a tour through England to report on the condition 
of its agriculture with a view to its improvement. 
Agricultural Societies' dinners and landlords' preach- 
ments thereat won't do it. Some free-trade landlord 
lately spoke of old tenants going to the wall : I think 
many of the old lairds should be tumbled over the 
wall, and buried in a ditch out of sight. Man, when 
we get you into Parliament (I don't despair of that) 
you must ' gie them up their fit.' " 



142 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 



FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"January 1846. 

" The year 1846 promises to be a memorable one in 
the progress of the great doctrine of Free-trade. In 
the newspapers that you will get with this letter you 
will observe, and read with much interest, as we do 
here, Sir Eobert Peel's masterly speech at the opening 
of Parliament, in which he declares that the protection 
to native industry is no longer tenable, and gives in his 
unqualified adhesion to the Free-trade cause, the bond 
of union of the League. The enunciation of his plan 
for this great change in the policy of the country was 
to be made last night in Parliament. I have doubts 
whether his measures will be carried in this Parliament, 
but a dissolution will certainly give him a majority. 
If the monopolists should be able to stave it off for a 
time, it will enable the League to plant a registration- 
agent in every county in the kingdom, and thus by 
winning counties we shall get something else than 
mere Free-trade, — which last I do not undervalue, but 
the laws of Primogeniture and Entail, the Game Laws, 
and the other remnants of feudalism, must also be 
wiped from the Statute-book. It is a matter of no 
little congratulation to me to witness great statesmen 
coming round, and admitting the justice and policy of 
those measures the adoption of which we have asked 
for years ; yes, to witness the triumph of those views, 
after having been treated with ridicule and bitterness, 
is great encouragement always to take our stand on 
first principles, to advocate them honestly, and truth 
will ultimately prevail. 

"You will observe in last Saturday's Scotsman an 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 143 

account of the Midlothian Protection meeting. You 
will see Mr. Scott of Craiglockhart's speech, that he 
finds fault with Morton and Trimmer's pamphlet and 
the Scotsman's review of it. The review was written 
by me, and I also penned that part of the leader in the 
Scotsman that rebuts what Mr. Scott said on the subject. 
They sent me Thursday's Mercury, and asked what I 
had to say. I also wrote lately for the Scotsman a 
review of Lowe's ' Domesticated Animals.' 

" I hope we may have a good crop next year. Were 
it not for the handsome profits from stock, this would 
be a very in different year. 

"... Our small C. is thriving nicely, and I may 
tell you her father and mother both think her an 
uncommon child." 

" Zlst January. 

" Well, I have now seen Peel's plan. He diminishes 
the amount of all protecting duties, and does away 
with many of them altogether. All sorts of flesh and 
live animals to be admitted free, with maize and buck- 
wheat, and all grain from the Colonies ; and in three 
years the Corn Laws to be totally abolished. . . . On 
the whole, I believe it is as much as he can carry with 
his party. The Protectionists in Haddington market 
yesterday were furious at Peel, and they one and all 
declared they would rather that the abolition took 
place at once. I send you a copy of the Mercury to 
let you see Peel's speech." 

" 26th February 1846. 

"The progress of Free-trade principles is most astonish- 
ing. Peel's liberal measure is almost all that we could 
wish, and his last speech is a wonderful effort of genius. 
There is little doubt but that there will be a majority of 



144 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

80 or 100 in the Commons, and it is thought he may be 
able to carry it in the Lords likewise. Everybody says 
now that they are and always have been Free-traders, 
though they said nothing about it. 

"... When I tell you that, in the manner above 
detailed [railway shares], I have laid out about £1300, 
I daresay you will wonder where I have got it. I find 
that in farming, when once you have money, money can 
be made. Going with cash in hand for everything I 
want, I get it at the cheapest rate ; the difference in 
this mode of doing business from the old way is about 
equal to our whole family expenditure. Never having to 
thresh for money is a matter of great importance, and 
buying guano and linseed-cake before the time for using 
them has assisted us. I am not afraid of Free-trade ! 

" You will notice in the Scotsman of a week past 
yesterday a sermon of mine on ' the Sabbath,' delivered 
at a meeting of the North British Eailway Company, in 
reply to the Agnewites. It astonished the latter a good 
deal when I spoke ; they looked amazed, and it has 
caused some talking since. I have had several letters 
by post since, enclosing tracts on the subject. One 
signed J. M. admits that I seem to know the Scriptures, 
but that I pervert them, etc. etc." 

The proceedings at the meeting of the North British 
Eailway Company above alluded to were as follows : — 
A Mr. Blackadder moved a motion to the effect that 
" no trains should be allowed to run on the North 
British Eailway on the Sabbath-day." One of his argu- 
ments in favour of this was that " in six days God made 
the heavens and the earth, and that He rested on the 
seventh." Mr. Blackadder called on the Company to 



MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 145 

place themselves on the side of God and not on that of 
Mammon. He was afraid that " in all this matter there 
was too much love of making money." 

The motion was seconded by Dr. John Moir. 

Mr. Hope then said : " Had it not been for Mr. 
Blackadder's taunt, that we are influenced by Mammon, 
I would have taken the Chairman's advice and said 
nothing, but as it is, I cannot remain silent. Did I 
believe that there was one day holier than another, and 
that it was a sin, however small, to work or travel on 
that day, I would at once support the motion. But, 
after the most mature consideration of the arguments of 
the Sabbatarians, and a careful perusal of the Holy 
Scriptures, I have come to the most decided conviction 
that an enlightened Christian ' esteemeth every day 
alike.' That the ancient Hebrew Sabbath is not bind- 
ing on the followers of Christ must be admitted by all 
Christendom, seeing that none observe it. I admit 
that there is a slight hint in the Book of Genesis, from 
which it may be inferred that the Sabbath was known 
from the earliest history of our race. Still, there is not 
one word about its being kept till the law was given by 
Moses ! and the reason assigned for it being only true 
in a figurative sense, I can hardly think it could be in- 
tended for perpetual observance ; but, at all events, it 
was the last day of the week that Moses ordained in 
commemoration of God's resting from the labours of 
creation, while Christians observe the first day of the 
week in recollection of Christ's resurrection from the 
dead. Can any two events be more different ? I know 
that it is said that one day in seven is all that is 
required ; but I demand, where is the authority for the 
change ? There is not a syllable about it in the New 

K 



146 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Testament, and if Saturday, the last day of the week, 
is not to be observed, what other day is ? The Phari- 
sees of old founded many of their objections to Christ 
on the ground that he did not observe the Sabbath. 
He did many of his miracles on that day. He walked 
on that day in the fields with his disciples, who plucked 
the ears of corn and did eat ; and when this conduct 
was objected to, he told the self-righteous objectors that 
the Son of Man was Lord also of the Sabbath. He was 
even bidden, and accepted, an invitation to a feast on the 
Sabbath. These things, coupled with the fact that there 
is not one word in the apostolic writings about keeping 
the Sabbath, but much to discredit the observance of 
particular times and days, should settle the question. 
How any Christian can read the second chapter of 
Colossians, the fourth chapter of Galatians, and many 
parallel passages, and yet insist upon such a thing, — » 
above all, that he should criticise his neighbour for using 
the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free, — is to 
me extraordinary. To the Colossians Paul says : ' Let 
no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in 
respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the 
Sabbath-days, which are a shadow of things to come, 
but the body is of Christ.' Thus the apostle classes 
Sabbath-days with meats and drinks, which Protestants 
at least hold to be indifferent, and he denominates them 
' shadows ; ' and again to the foolish Galatians he says : 
' How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, 
whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ? Ye 
observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am 
afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in 
vain.' Here again observance of days is styled weak 
and beggarly elements. It won't do to say that the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 147 

Jews observed other days, and that the Sabbath-days are 
excluded here, for in one case they are expressly men- 
tioned, and Paul himself makes no exceptions. ... I 
believe it likely that the first Christians would observe 
both days, but when you recollect that many of them 
were slaves, it is not likely that they ceased from labour ; 
at least history is silent about any suffering martyrdom 
on that account, and there is not a tittle of evidence 
that they were told it was sin to labour on that day. 
But believing all this, as I sincerely do, it does not by 
any means follow that I wish every man to continue his 
ordinary occupation every day of the week. Far from 
it. The human mind is too apt to be wholly engrossed 
in worldly pursuits, and it is a wise institution of man 
to set apart stated portions of his time to certain means 
or acts of direct religion which may enable him the 
better to withstand temptation, and in the trials and 
conflicts of daily life to prove himself a worthy disciple of 
Christ. But what can be worse than the vulgar super- 
stition that would regard the Sabbath as the end, not 
the means, to religion ? The true Christian devotes 
every day, not one in seven, to religion ; and he does so 
when in business he acts honestly and uprightly ; when 
in his family he is ever kind and considerate, when he 
every day becomes more pure of heart, and better fitted 
for the mansions of bliss above. Gentlemen, when I 
see individuals laying too great stress upon unessential 
things, I am afraid they take it off from the things that 
are essential, and when they do those things, perfectly 
lawful in themselves, but which they imagine not to be 
right, they sear their consciences, and give them a 
moral squint, so that they can even pocket dividends 
arising from what they esteem an unlawful traffic. No 



148 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

man can for a whole day devote an undivided attention 
to one object ; all men take some relaxation on the 
Sabbath, let their creeds be what they may. For my 
own part, I would devote a part of it to sedulous self- 
improvement and public worship, but, this done, I can 
see no harm in any rational amusement or innocent 
enjoyment." 

Mr. Charles Philip then got up and stated that the 
Sabbath was instituted in Paradise. He was proceed- 
ing with his argument when Mr. Eaeburn came forward 
and said that he must interrupt the gentleman. They 
had had already three discourses on the Sabbath, and 
this was the fourth one. It ought to be recollected that 
gentlemen had their business to attend to. 

Mr. Philip said he was quite ready to come to a vote ; 
as he thought that the speech of the gentleman in the 
presence of those who had received a Christian educa- 
tion would answer itself, he would say no more. 

It was agreed that the state of the vote should be 

" motion " or " not." The vote was then taken, when 

it was found that of those present the numbers were : — 

For Mr. Blackadder's motion, . . 21 

Against it, . . . . . 35 

Majority against it, . ... 14 

It was then intimated that including proxies the 
numbers were : — 

For Mr. Blackadder's motion, . . 278 

Against it, . . , . .1711 

Majority against the motion, . . 1433 

The meeting then separated. 

That one should stand up in the light of day and 
deny the moral obligation of observing the first day of 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 149 

•the week was a thing then unheard of in Scotland, and 
Mr. Hope's speech created a good deal of consternation. 
Dr. Candlish called a meeting in the Music Hall of 
Edinburgh, at which he went over and attempted to 
refute every sentence of the speech. 

Some who agreed with Mr. Hope's opinions on the 
subject blamed him for arguing the question on Scrip- 
tural ground ; but he thought that if his opponents were 
to be convinced at all it could only be by meeting them 
with their own weapons. 

At a future meeting of the North British Eailway 
Company he said : " I do not at all regret that Mr. 
Blackadder persists in bringing forward motions against 
all Sunday trains, because I believe very erroneous and 
unscriptural notions are generally entertained regarding 
the Christian Sabbath, and I am satisfied that truth 
cannot suffer in discussion. I want the whole question 
to be thoroughly sifted ; to obtain this we must have 
zeal like Mr. Blackadder, and I infinitely prefer even 
bigoted zeal to that indifferentism (the worst of all 
' isms') which unfortunately is so prevalent. Mr. Black- 
adder grounds his motion on what is contained in the 
Old Testament. I take my stand on the New and 
better Covenant. . . . Whoever sets up the Old against 
the New shows he believes neither. In relation to this 
question individuals have presumed to call me an infidel, 
though I might retort the unfounded charge with greater 
reason on them. At a meeting of the North British 
Eailway Company some time ago I said that . . . there 
was not one word of the Jewish Sabbath having been 
kept till the law was given by Moses. To that state- 
ment I adhere. A gentleman from Leith replied to me 
that the Sabbath was instituted in Paradise, and that 



150 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

when brought forward again by Moses, it was in this 
manner, ' Bemember the Sabbath day.' I only felt 
astonished at the gentleman's ignorance of Scripture, 
seeing he had received what he called a Christian edu- 
cation. If he had studied his Bible he would have found 
that the Sabbath was first instituted at the giving of the 
manna in the Wilderness, and that Moses had made a 
long and wearisome journey on the previous Sabbath. 
Eead the 16th chapter of Exodus and you will see that 
the institution was wholly new. . . ." 

George Hope never made a theological speech or 
stated in public any of his theological opinions without 
receiving letters enclosing tracts, and expressing horror 
at the iniquity of his opinions, and assurances that he 
was on the road to damnation. He considered these 
letters to be well meant, and always answered them 
with wonderful patience. 



FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER CHARLES. 
"Fenton Barns, 30th March 1846. 

" The estate of Sydserf is to be sold ; it is all in old 
grass and will crop well; £100 might be made of it 
easily the first year. If I could pay a small part of 
the purchase-money and borrow the rest, I would buy 
it. I daresay I am better wanting it ; but I am most 
anxious to own land. It is a nice little place, but I 
must wait till I am richer. 

" The cause of Free-trade goes on prospering and to 
prosper. The nearer the approach of its final triumph, 
markets rise higher. Every farm that is let goes at a 
higher rent than before, in the teeth of the fall of Pro- 
tection." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 151 

" 30th April 

" A good many farms have been let this spring, and 
every one at large additional rents, the rise being from 
ten to thirty per cent. This is a staggering fact to the 
Protectionists. Farms are letting, not at what they are 
worth at present, but at what they are capable of being 
made worth by draining and artificial manures." 

FROM MR. COBDEN TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

" Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire, 
9th July 1846. 

"My dear Sir, — Here I am amongst the Welsh 
mountains, with my wife and children, far away from 
the turmoil of political life. I was much gratified by 
the receipt of your warm-hearted congratulations upon 
the close of our League agitation. No man has better 
ground for self-gratulation than yourself. What I said 
to Lord Ducie as a landlord I say to you as a farmer : 
'You were far in advance of your class, and have 
evinced sagacity, disinterestedness, and pluck, which 
entitle you to the first place in the gratitude of your 
countrymen/ There was small merit in our agitation 
in Manchester compared with that of the prominent 
stand you took in the midst of a farming population. 
Well, the work being done, the next thing is to try to 
turn the new state of things to the benefit of the real 
working agriculturists, the farmers and labourers. 
There is no doubt that the political landlords will try 
some new ' dodge ' to keep the farmers in their trammels. 
Perhaps they will try to raise a cry about tithes or 
taxes ; maybe the malt -tax will be the cheval de 
bataille, for I am sorry to say the English farmers 
have a silly notion generally about the malt-tax ; they 



152 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

seem to think that they pay all the tax ! . . . The 
questions which ought now to be stirred by the 
farmers are game and tenure. I hope to see a stand 
made in some counties, at the approaching election, 
upon these points by a few real farmers. Let them 
put their professing 'friends' to the test upon these 
questions. But I feel convinced nothing will he done 
until the farmers send very different men to represent 
them in Parliament. I am glad to see you have made 
an able and energetic commencement upon the Game 
question. Pray make my kind compliments to Mrs. 
Hope and your father, and remember me to those good 
neighbours whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of 
making, and believe me, my dear Sir, yours truly, 

" ElCHD. COBDEN." 

FROM MR. BRIGHT TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

" Eochdale, July 9th, 1846. 
" My dear Sir, — I only received your kind letter 
yesterday. It is delightful to feel that our long labours 
have at length been crowned with success, and we 
derive ample compensation from the consciousness that 
a great oppression is removed. To you is due no small 
merit ; you have led the way among your class and 
order, and your Essay on the Corn Laws produced a 
marked effect. I have no pleasanter recollection than 
that which attaches to our visit to your house, and to 
your friends the intelligent men of East Lothian. And 
now you are again leading the way on the Game 
question. You are right in separating this from all 
other questions. Your policy is to make your own 
county right, and to return an Anti- Game-Law candi- 
date. Your example will work wonders among the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 153 

farmers. You should obtain an abstract of the Game 
Committee's evidence and circulate it widely among 
the farmers and landowners, and you should endeavour 
to extend the circulation of such papers as support your 
views. You should write to the Mark Lane Express, 
and endeavour to obtain the names of the president 
and secretary of all the agricultural societies throughout 
the United Kingdom, and enter into correspondence 
with them in order to secure unity in the operations of 
the farmers. You should have some short tracts on the 
subject for general circulation at markets and market 
dinners, and in every way try to rouse the independent 
feelings of the farmers on the subject. The evidence 
is not yet out. We have passed resolutions, and I 
expect the whole will be published in two or three 
weeks from this. The evidence is very bulky, and I 
am having prepared a good abstract of it to sell at 
about 2s. for general circulation, and intend to send a 
copy to each newspaper, as soon as it is ready. It will 
be of great service, I am sure, and you should procure 
it as much attention as possible. Next session I hope 
to make a motion on the subject in the House of 
Commons. I am much obliged to your committee for 
their good opinion, and my services are freely at their 
disposal to work out their and my views on this 
question. 

" Remember me very kindly to your father and to 
Mrs. G. Hope, and believe me, very sincerely yours, 

" John Bright." 

from mr. adam hope to his brother george. 

"I can assure you we all witness with great pride 
of feeling the highly honourable part you have all 



154 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

along taken in the great struggle for Free-trade. I 
sometimes thought you were perhaps too conspicuous 
in the public eye for your own interest, but the succes- 
ful issue of the fight for Free-trade, and the fact of the 
great Conservative Minister now flying the same colours, 
will completely change your position. Hundreds will 
now endeavour to prove to you that they are just as 
good free-traders as yourself. It will be fashionable 
now, and that is everything, if one desires to look to his 
own immediate ease and comfort. Still, the change 
must have taken many by such surprise that one 
would think it would take some time to reconcile them 
to such a terrible commercial revolution. I highly 
admire the many excellent speeches of the free-traders 
as splendid appeals to the reason and intellect of the 
country. Yet for real amusement, fun, and laughter 
commend me to the Protectionist meetings of the Duke 
of Eichmond and Duke of Norfolk. I have had more 
hearty laughing over the proceedings of these and such 
like gentlemen, I do verily believe, than even I had 
over the first reading of Don Quixote. Their terror, 
rage, and impotence, and even their own acknowledged 
helplessness, are truly ludicrous. Here people, gene- 
rally speaking, were taken by surprise. Public opinion 
being moulded in a great measure by its direction in 
England, many thought Canada gone, lost, and about to 
be thrown out of cultivation. In fact, some thought 
we had now reached the brink of ruin, but it is not a 
little singular that you cannot find one of these gentle- 
men willing to abate one iota in the price of his land 
or property." 

Its work being now accomplished, the Anti-Corn- 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 155 

Law League was dissolved. "We are dispersing our 
elements," said Mr. Cobden at the last meeting of the 
League, " to be ready for any other good work. Our 
body will (so to speak) perish, but our spirit is abroad, 
and will pervade all the nations of the earth. It will 
pervade all the nations of the earth, because it is the 
spirit of truth and justice, because it is the spirit of 
peace and goodwill amongst men." 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

Luath.— Wha aiblins thrang a parliamentin', 
For Britain's guid his saul indentin' — 

Ccesar. — Haith, lad, ye little ken about it ; 

For Britain's guid! guid faith, I doubt it ! — Burns. 

In January 1847 my father writes : "This year will 
not leave us any great profit ; not on account of the 
bad crop, but stock will leave us little or nothing. The 
murrain, or pleuro-pneumonia, as it is called, com- 
pelled me to sell forty beasts at a great loss, and we 
have four dead besides." 

In March he writes : " We had the happiness of 
receiving Charles's letter of the 23d ult. to my father 
this forenoon. We were grieved to hear of the death 
of Mr. H.'s little girl ; I can now easily fancy the sad 
stroke it must have been to the poor father and mother 
to be thus suddenly deprived of their child. We should 
ever bear it in remembrance that it is at best but a 
slight hold we have of every earthly good, and what we 
prize most our powers to preserve are most feeble. I 
am glad to say that all here continue in health and 
happiness. Our good father is sitting opposite me on 
the sofa looking at the papers, though it is not often 
he takes up the papers himself. My wife and the two 
little ones have been in the room for an hour, and have 
retired up-stairs ; I hear her singing to K. and C.'s 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 157 

little feet trotting across the room now called the 
nursery. C. calls herself ' a sonsy lass ; ' she is quite a 
little chatterbox, constantly talking away, and making 
efforts to repeat every word, and she can walk up-stairs 
without assistance. E. is a stout boy, very quiet and 
contented; his face is as big as C.'s already. On 
Wednesday I had been introduced to Elihu Burritt, the 
learned blacksmith from America, and on Friday I went 
in to hear him lecture on ' Peace amongst all Nations 
and the Sinfulness of all War/ He wants power as a 
speaker, yet his lecture was good, and I am inclined to 
think he takes a sensible view of the matter. He is a 
truly modest man, and I think a good. 

" I have been frequently in the Edinburgh Exhibition 
of Paintings this season, having had a season-ticket 
presented to me as honorary secretary for East Lothian 
to the Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts. 

" We had Mr. Bright in the county lately. He had 
an interview with our Anti- Game-Law Committee at 
Mr. Miller's. I sent a notice of it to the Scotsman. By 
some mistake that copy of our paper did not come for 
a week, so it was too late to send to you. The terms 
of the announcement made the Conservatives wonder 
what we were after, though, in fact, we did little but 
encourage one another in the good work of perseverance 
to overthrow the odious Game Laws." 

"27th June 1847. 

" You will see by the papers that we are on the eve 
of another election, and that we have had Mr. Welford 
from London down canvassing the county in the Anti- 
Game-Law interest. He was with us at Eenton Barns 
for three nights, and we had the Anti-Game-Law Com- 



158 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

mittee dining with us to meet him. I was with him at 
Tranent, etc. We have given the lairds a great fright." 

FROM MR. BRIGHT TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

"London, 13th May 1847. 

" My dear Sir, — I am very sorry to learn from your 
letter just received that there is so small a chance of a 
cordial support of a candidate brought forward on Anti- 
Game- Law grounds. I found matters at Stirling just 
as you describe them among your friends ; every one 
pertinaciously insisting on some favourite subject of 
his own, to the utter destruction of all cordiality and 
union of effort. 

" I take it that your only chance of success is in 
your making the contest one of ' Game-Law BepeaU 
We carried the Durham and London elections by sink- 
ing every other question than that of the Corn Laws ; 
and without this isolation, without the seizing on one 
great grievance and making it prominent, I don't think 
your county at all inviting to a stranger. With your 
statement of the multitude of things some of you wish 
your member to express himself upon, I certainly would 
not recommend Mr. Welford to take the trouble of 
offering himself. His only claim to your good opinion 
until you know him more is his labours and opinions 
on the Game question ; and unless he can come out as 
an An ti- Game-Law candidate, and chiefly that, and 
almost solely that, you cannot contest the county with 
any chance of success. . . . The Whigs will not be 
cordial with you : they are as aristocratic in their 
notions as the Tories." 

That it was possible to return for East Lothian a 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 159 

Liberal member without landed property in the county 
was but the dream of a few enthusiastic spirits, and it 
was speedily seen to be hopeless. The Liberals of the 
county were forced to confine themselves to looking for 
a candidate with as much Liberalism as is usually to 
be found in conjunction with the possession of large 
landed estates. My father, on behalf of the Anti- 
Game-Law Association, writes to Sir David Baird : 
"... The Association having determined to endeavour 
to return, free of all expense, an Anti-Game-Law 
member for the county, the Committee are sensible 
that if you could view this Game question as they do, 
and consent to be a candidate, your high standing and 
general popularity would make this, they are aware, 
bold step comparatively easy, while in every way it 
would do much to further the objects they have in view. 

"Notwithstanding that there were some things in 
your letter to Mr. Stevenson which the Committee 
cannot agree with, yet in one sense it was a liberal 
document and a step in advance, which encourages them 
to hope that when you have turned the question again 
in your mind, and thought on it longer, your opinions 
will come to be more in harmony with theirs. From 
the confidence they feel in the principles which unite 
them they are satisfied that an intelligent public will 
soon adopt similar views, and that protection to game 
must follow protection to corn. 

"Though the Committee must insist on the entire 
abolition of the Game Laws, they do not imagine they 
are at all precluded from assenting, but on the contrary 
they deem themselves called upon to agree, to whatever 
may be considered proper in those minor details to 
secure to every one the full enjoyment of his just 



160 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

rights. They humbly conceive that the law applicable 
to rabbit-warrens might with propriety be applied to 
all moor game, and birds and beasts kept in gentle- 
men's parks, — that is, to look upon them as property, 
as long as they remain in their own proper place, liable 
to be taxed as such, and answerable for any damage 
they may do to others, while at the same time they may 
be destroyed should they happen to stray. But under 
this proviso, that no arable land shall under any circum- 
stance be deemed a warren. This arrangement would 
secure the interests of the Highland proprietors who 
breed game for sale, and render all who infringed their 
rights amenable to punishment, while it would do away 
with the monstrous anomaly of proprietors letting land 
for tillage with the reservation of being able to destroy 
the whole or as much of the crops as they please. It 
would also remove a stumbling-block to many unfortu- 
nate members of society; as limiting preserves to 
particular places would cause game, at those places, to 
be considered much more as property than it is at 
present. At all events individuals would not be prose- 
cuted for one offence and punished for another. 

" The Committee would fain hope that the opinions 
above expressed will meet with your approbation, and 
do away with the principal objections you have to their 
movement, and that you will not only join them in 
endeavouring to carry them into practice, but consent 
likewise to become their candidate, and they pledge 
themselves to strain every nerve to secure your return 
without putting you to any expense in the matter." 

Sir David Baird, in his reply to this communication, 
enlarges on the advantages of game-preserving in other 
parts of the kingdom, but discovers some good reasons 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 161 

why East Lothian should be an exception to the general 
rule. He writes : " With regard to East Lothian my 
own impression is that, looking to the description of 
men, the rents paid, the extent of the farms, and the 
length of the leases, the tenants are fairly entitled to 
the privileges of shooting over their fields. I take for 
granted, had they possessed this, your present Associa- 
tion would never have been thought of. ... I have no 
idea that the Game Laws will be abolished, and if not, 
the privilege can only be obtained by the goodwill of 
the landlords. I have a fancy their exclusive feeling 
about game is somewhat lessened of late, but I would 
put it to their [the farmers'] serious consideration 
whether the position at present taken up by so large a 
portion of their body is not rather calculated to renew 
it than conciliate goodwill." 

The Anti- Game-Law agitators would have preferred 
a candidate who would at least have been in favour of 
tenant-farmers having the power to protect their own 
crops from the ravages of vermin elsewhere than in the 
county he was about to contest, and independently of 
the " goodwill " of their landlords. 

My father writes to his brother : "lam to vote for Sir 
David Baird in the county, but rather doubt Charteris 
will beat him, although it is by no means certain. 
There is not in reality much difference in their politics. 
Charteris is a Peelite, and Baird a moderate Whig, but 
then Baird did his best to pass the Eeform Bill. As to 
game, they are six and half a dozen regarding the 
alteration of the law. Charteris's grandfather (and 
without his grandfather he is nobody) preserves, which 
Baird does not, but allows all his tenants to shoot, 
without exception." 

L 



162 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Mr Charteris proved to be the successful candidate ; 
and although even so mild a " Liberal" as was Sir 
David Baird would have been preferable as a Member, 
the disappointment felt at the result of the election by 
any Liberals which the county contained would have 
probably been greater had the principles of their candi- 
date been more in accordance with their own. 

My father was ever anxious to believe that people 
were what they called themselves, but he was some- 
times startled to perceive how merely skin-deep was 
the Liberalism of some people, more particularly of 
many of the possessors of titles and estates. Many 
years after this time he was horrified at hearing a gentle- 
man, who called himself a Liberal, make so great a slip 
as to use the expression, " My father's voters," meaning 
thereby the tenants on his father's estates. " Your 
father's what ! ! !" said my father. " Oh, of course they 
can all vote as they please," said the gentleman, recol- 
lecting to whom he was talking. " But it shows what 
their feeling is," said my father, when afterwards 
relating the circumstance to his family. 

He continues the letter in which he speaks of the 
elections of this year : " Sir H. F. Davie, formerly 
Colonel Ferguson, has now no opposition in the burghs. 
He is to vote for every modification of the Game Laws 
that may be proposed. He speaks well, and is a 
thorough Liberal. Mr. Welford has been asked to 
stand for Fife against Captain Wemyss ; I encouraged 
him ; he won golden opinions here from all with whom 
he came in contact. 

" Did I ask anything in my last letter about a reap- 
ing machine, of which there was an account in an 
agricultural paper you sent us? I wish you would 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 163 

make inquiries about it, and tell me how it is thought 
to answer. If we could only get a machine of the kind 
to answer, it would be a great improvement, besides 
the saving of expense. The harvest is the most dis- 
agreeable part of the farming business. ... To get 
such a lot of strangers and keep them in order for three 
or four weeks is anything but pleasant. Nothing would 
give the farmers here so much delight as if they could 
only manage to cut the crop with the people they have 
on their farms." 

Again he writes : — 

" llth September 1847. 

" John would tell you of my ten days' trip to London, 
Kent, etc., and how much I was pleased with the great 
deal I contrived to see in the little space of time I had 
at my disposal. I saw Mark Lane and Smithfield 
markets, the Tower, the House of Lords, and heard a 
long debate in the House of Commons, in which Lord 
John Russell, Mr. Hume, Mr. Roebuck, and other noted 
politicians took part. I went to the English Agricul- 
tural Society's show at Northampton, and returned to 
London the same night in time to hear Jenny Lind, 
the Swedish Nightingale, at the Queen's Theatre. 
Among the things I saw in London were Westminster 
Abbey, the exhibitions of paintings in Westminster 
Hall, the National Gallery, etc. etc. I was a night at 
Tenterden, Kent, with Mr. Mace, and drove about for 
a day with him. I was two nights with Mr. Welford, 
our Anti-Game- Law candidate, at his farm in Herts. . . . 

" We have finished one of the best harvests I ever 
recollect of. . . . The only untoward events were high 
gales of wind on the 2 2d ult. and on the 1st current, 
which occasioned us some loss by shaking the corn. 



164 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Many people estimate their loss at £100 and £200 
each, and some as high as £500. I daresay we have 
lost about the first-mentioned sum. . . . Our turnips 
are the admiration of the country, as well as our crop 
generally. Our spring wheat exceeds in bulk anything 
I ever saw ; people were telling me yesterday at the 
market that it was worth taking a good long ride to 
look at it." 

" Sunday morning. 

" I have said that I am quite pleased with our crop ; 
however, the pleuro-pneumonia amongst our cattle has 
annoyed me not a little. We have lost a good many 
altogether, and have had to sell a very large number at 
half-price to get rid of them. I calculate my loss at 
something like £300 from this cause alone. 

" I went into Edinburgh in the railway lately with 
our laird-to-be, Mr. Christopher. I was rather sur- 
prised that he knew me ; I cannot think how he came 
to do so. . . . 

" That Canada J. should be reading already some- 
times seems strange to me, but when I see my own 
little pet running about playing and chattering, I am 
reminded that time hastens on ; she is growing fast, 
and is a happy little cricket. E. continues as fat and 
fair as ever, seldom makes any noise, unless he gets 
hungry, and then he lets the whole house know." 

My father was extremely fond of children, and could 
not understand any one disliking their noise ; but he 
was less liable than most people to be disturbed by 
noise, having the power of absorbing himself in reading 
or writing so as to be quite unconscious of what was 
passing around him. 

In January 1848 he writes : " We are busy agitating 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 165 

for the repeal of the Game Laws. We had an excellent 
lecture from Mr. Munro on Wednesday. I am going 
to-morrow as one of a deputation to the Lord Advocate 
on this business, and will likely ]ecture myself before 
the end of February." 

LECTURE ON THE GAME LAWS. 

My father commenced his lecture by saying that he 
had taken up this question of the Game Laws, not from 
any loss that he sustained by game as an individual, for 
he had the privilege of shooting, along with numerous 
tenants, on the Dirleton estate. Neither was it from 
any hostile feeling towards the aristocracy, . . . but 
simply because he thought the Game Laws hostile to 
the independence and welfare of his own order, detri- 
mental to the morals of the people, and to the happi- 
ness and Christian feelings of the aristocracy themselves. 
" Amongst farmers in private," said my father, " I have 
scarcely heard two opinions about the matter. A 
farmer who is an out-and-out defender of the Game 
Laws is about as rare as a black swan. Some feeble 
apologists for the system there are : men who think 
that if we were to ask for a modification of the law 
our chances of success would be greater. I, od the 
other hand, ask what I believe to be justice — simply 
that the present Game Laws should speedily become 
matter of history. It is a curious fact that we get 
money and pressing entreaties to go on with our agita- 
tion from those occupying game farms, but very 
generally accompanied with this solicitation, not to 
give their names. They had better say at once, as they 
used to do at school, ' You must not tell the master on 



166 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

me/ It would scarcely be right to give instances, but 
I am sure, were I to do so, it would astonish some 
landlords, as most of them have not the slightest idea 
of the feeling of their tenantry on this question. ... I 
could not respect myself, and I would be undeserving 
the respect of others, if I were silent when I saw a 
great moral wrong or grievous oppression, because some 
respected individuals having a vested right in the abuse 
viewed it in a different light. I affirm that it is gross 
injustice to allow game to eat up the produce of any 
man's garden, or of his twenty- or thirty- acre field, and 
not to allow him to protect himself, nor yet to prose- 
cute the man who may have been instrumental in 
rearing the nuisance in the neighbourhood. If I had 
not faith in the gradual approach of the time when a 
full recognition will take place in the rights of man as 
man, I should be afraid that by and by green goose- 
berries might come to be placed in the list of tabooed 
articles, and that only qualified persons paying the 
licence could venture to have a pot of preserves in 
their houses. The one law would be as just as the 
other. It is usually said that game is the property of 
the person on whose land it is for the time being. 
Without stopping to inquire what sort of property that 
is that may have belonged to a dozen of people in one 
day, without one of them ever having been sensible 
that they either had it or wanted it, I maintain that 
this argument of property only applies to those having 
the statutory qualification of a plough- gate of land. 
Besides, can any one tell me why the much-vaunted 
value of shootings, on the most extensive Highland 
hills, pays neither income-tax nor poor-rates, nor any 
public burden whatever (unless it be minister's stipend), 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 167 

except when absolutely let for a given sum to some 
third party ? The Duke of Athole, for instance, has, it 
is understood, 100,000 acres guarded as closely from 
the woolly flocks as they are from the foot of the 
scientific student, or from the eye of the lover of the 
picturesque and grand in nature. There are many other 
proprietors besides, who have banished flocks and herds 
from portions of their property, that wild animals may 
multiply for their sport. Well, let it be so ; if High- 
land lairds choose to raise blackcocks in place of black- 
faced wethers, we ask not to prevent them, only they 
must protect their game themselves. We demur to 
high and oppressive penalties for the protection of 
animals which they can neither identify nor control. 
With many this question of the Highland proprietors 
is a stumbling-block. It is said that the shootings of 
many of the Highland estates are let for more than the 
whole rents they used formerly to bring. I grant this 
at once ; but I know also that sheep-farms there have 
likewise prodigiously increased in value, and what is 
more, are likely to increase still further. But the 
attempt to get a large head of game, and to have the 
sheep too, is found to be almost, if not quite, as impos- 
sible as to have a superb field of wheat filled with 
pheasants, hares, and rabbits. When in the Highlands 
last autumn, I made some inquiries regarding this, and 
several most respectable farmers assured me that they 
had far better pay a handsome sum, frequently as much 
as the shootings let for, to get rid of the game altogether, 
unless when it is kept only in such quantities that it 
would take an active man a hard day's work to fill a 
game-bag ; and though the Game Laws were abolished 
to-morrow it would cost but little trouble to the owners 



168 MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 

of these mountains to preserve this quantity, — quite 
enough for sport." 

After describing how it was frequently necessary to 
regulate the cropping of land with reference to the 
game, my father goes on to say, " There are cases in 
East Lothian where * the proud tenantry,' as an Edin- 
burgh Eeviewer calls them, are not permitted to keep 
dogs, and many are the instances where it is impossible 
to keep cats, as they invariably disappear, no one 
knows how, though ill-natured people will lay the 
blame on the gamekeepers. That great losses are fre- 
quently sustained by tenant-farmers from the ravages 
of game, must be evident to all who have made any 
inquiry into the matter. Game, like every living 
thing, lives to eat, or eats to live ; and what, may I 
ask, constitutes the food of hares and rabbits ? Unques- 
tionably vegetable productions, either in the shape of 
grass, grain, or turnips. And partridges and pheasants, 
what of them? I frankly confess that I never was 
sensible of any great mischief done by partridges ; but 
for pheasants there is not a bird alive more destructive 
to the crops of the farmer. They scrape up the seed 
for long after it is sown as effectually as barn-door 
chickens ; in summer they trample down the growing 
corn in every direction ; and then in autumn, as soon 
as the grain begins to approach maturity, they are at it 
again. In a wet or damp harvest, many of the heads 
trodden down by them spring up, which deteriorates 
the value of the sample several shillings a quarter. 
This autumn, in passing a stackyard a few miles from 
where I live, shortly after daybreak, I was astonished 
to see more pheasants in it than I ever saw barn-door 
fowls in any other. On my approach they took to 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 169 

wing and literally darkened the air. The farmer told 
ine that invariably his servants all turned poachers ; 
they set traps in the stackyard, and caught them in 
many ways unknown to him. I have since learned 
that this stock of pheasants has been reduced fully 
two-thirds, without the proprietor or his keepers having 
killed a single head, and that this large quantity has 
been conveyed along the North British Eailway for the 
benefit of you Edinburgh folks. However, you have a 
greater interest in this question than simply the eating 
of the game. The quantity of agricultural produce 
consumed and destroyed by them far more than over- 
balances any good you may derive from a poached or 
an unpoached pheasant. . . . The farmers who were 
examined before Mr. Bright's Committee stated their 
annual losses from £100 to £200, £600 to £700, and 
£900 to £1000. . . . There is also the shameful case 
mentioned by Mr. Stevenson in his able lecture, where 
the damage was estimated last year at £823 on a rent 
of about £1000. I have already alluded to an instance 
where the damage was £100 to a single field of wheat, 
and I know two or three farms in East Lothian that I 
would not occupy rent free, to be obliged to maintain 
the large head of game usually kept on them. I might 
easily give you names, but I have no wish to expose 
individual game-preservers, further than is necessary to 
show the working of the system ; neither perhaps would 
the sufferers themselves thank me. ... In some of the 
large estates in East Lothian only a murderous battue 
takes place, perhaps once or twice in a season, which is 
much the same in sport as if I was to invite my friends 
to take a shot at my pigs. . . . Farming now is in 
many cases a scientific profession, and must rapidly 



170 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

become so in all. Things are now mightily changed ; 
rents have risen to double and treble the amount they 
were sixty years ago. To pay them the landlord's land 
is not now sufficient — the tenant must have capital 
and skill to use it judiciously. But what man of 
common sense will expose his capital or apply his skill 
to produce a result which may be marred by the whim 
or caprice of another ? ... If a tenant mentions the 
game when he offers for his farm, he is invariably 
assured that it will not be allowed to hurt him. . . . 
A wood-pigeon was formerly a rare sight; but since 
the plantations have been kept quiet for the breeding 
of game, and since owls, hawks, weasels, etc., have 
been destroyed hj keepers, these wood-pigeons have so 
increased that in many instances they do more damage 
than even the game. The increase of wood-pigeons is 
one of the evils of game-preserving, and yet game- 
preservers turn round and tell us that wood-pigeons do 
more harm than game." My father then referred to 
the injurious effects of the law of Hypothec, after which 
he alluded to the discouragement created by the want 
of security for the floating capital of the farmer. " A 
farm towards the close of a lease," he said, "is never in 
the same condition that it was a few years previously, 
it matters not under what conditions the tenant may 
occupy. No tenant can feel himself justified in making 
the same expenditure at the close that he does in the 
middle of his tenancy. Yet it is of the utmost import- 
ance to the welfare of the country that every acre of 
land should always be made to produce the utmost. I 
would have every farm examined by competent persons, 
and if there were improvements on it done by the 
tenant, which would naturally increase the rent of the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 171 

farm, and which he could not carry away with him, he 
should be paid for them, either by the incoming tenant 
or by the landlord. On the other hand, if the tenant 
deteriorates the farm, as sometimes happens, he should 
be compelled to pay the landlord. There might be 
some difficulty in fixing this to a penny, but a suffi- 
ciently near approach might be made to the exact value 
for the ends of substantial justice. 

"I may here notice that the Advertiser of the 11th, 
under the head ' Abolition of the Game Laws/ devotes 
upwards of a column of his paper to a kind of apologetic 
defence of the present Game Laws. I once hesitated 
whether or not to take any notice of him, as in the long 
and lachrymose introduction to the article alluded to, 
like Eob the Grinder, the ' penitent cove ' in Dombey 
and Son, he so bitterly complains of being always 
misunderstood and abused; but being conscious that 
all I want is the triumph of truth and justice, I think 
I may venture to give you my views of the Advertisers 
mode of defence. First he says, 'We are accused of 
defending all their [the Game Laws'] abuses, resisting 
every modification of them, and denying that they pro- 
duce the evils attributed to them. Now, such is not 
the fact ; we neither defend their abuses nor deny that 
they are productive of evil.' Well, one would naturally 
think that these are liberal admissions. He ' does not 
deny that they produce the evils attributed to them,' 
and surely they are of no slight magnitude, and yet the 
very next sentence is, ' We maintain that their aboli- 
tion would not cure, but rather increase, many of the 
evils complained of.' This is blowing hot and cold with 
a vengeance ! If these Game Laws produce the evils 
attributed to them, do away with the laws and you 



172 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

must cure the evils, or else the evils complained of are 
not, and cannot be, attributable to the laws. The Ad- 
vertiser believes that the tenant-farmers' losses 'are 
exaggerated.' I would just ask the Advertiser upon 
whose authority he believes this ? Does he know of a 
single instance where any practical man has confuted 
the estimates made by tenant-farmers of their losses ? 
If he does not, he is morally bound to believe what 
they tell him, unless he is prepared to say that the 
tenant-farmers of England and Scotland are a class 
totally unworthy of belief. He continues, ' There is 
little or no agitation on the subject. Eural agitation, 
properly speaking, there has been none.' Yet, says he, 
we (the rural agitators) have changed our tactics, and 
appealed to the city population. Is not this self-contra- 
diction again ? He goes on, that ' itinerating lecturers 
address town audiences, and try to stir up, through the 
medium of the Eadical press, the clamorous passions of 
the canaille and the lower classes.' There is about as 
much truth about our being itinerating lecturers, as that 
you gentlemen are a class lower than the canaille. If 
our grievances are not soon remedied there is every 
chance of our becoming itinerating lecturers, but how 
you are to get lower than the canaille rather puzzles 
me. He states afterwards that even were the Game 
Laws abolished, ' destructive hares and pheasants must 
be killed by somebody,' and that, ' if the farmers had 
the game, they must protect it and employ people to 
watch against the depredations of poachers, so that 
conflicts and murders would be more frequent than 
ever.' Before I read this I had no notion that farmers 
were so fond of ' destructive hares and pheasants' as to 
protect them and employ people to watch them. I 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 173 

deny that they would do so, consequently no conflicts 
or murders would take place. Perhaps the most pre- 
posterous sentence is when he states that ' to argue that 
the Game Laws are the cause of poaching, is not more 
logical nor more consistent with common sense than to 
try to persuade us that the sixth commandment is the 
cause of murder.' I would just ask in reply, — Does the 
Advertiser consider an Act-of- Parliament law — a human 
law, though it is an inhuman one — to be of equal 
authority with a divine commandment ? If he does, 
then I understand his argument, and I may come to 
doubt that the Excise regulations produce smuggling. 
But then, says the Advertiser, ' the revenue would suffer 
materially ; every licence, every dog, and every game 
servant' (the least always last — the game servant after 
his master's dog), 'bring in each their quota/ He 
forms no estimate of the total amount ; but grant that 
it is £200,000 a year, and it does not exceed that, what 
is it to the expenses incurred in the imprisonment, 
trial, and punishment of the offenders made criminals 
by this law, — the cost of maintaining their wives and 
families in the workhouse, — the loss to society of the 
work of the unfortunates themselves when confined, 
and their subsequent idleness when at liberty, induced 
by that confinement ? Almost the only objection that 
I ever heard urged by farmers against the total aboli- 
tion of the Game Laws was, that they were useful as a 
species of trespass-law. Even were this the case, I do 
•not think it at all prudent to enact laws ostensibly for 
one reason but in reality for another. The idea that 
our farms would swarm with lawless individuals from 
towns and villages, seeking to exterminate the last 
head of game, I cannot help thinking perfectly chimer- 



174 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

ical. By artificial means vast numbers of wild animals 
are congregated in particular spots, animals which 
cannot be considered in the light of property, that a 
few years ago it was illegal to buy or sell, and now 
only in a very limited manner. To many the tempta- 
tion is too strong to be resisted ; some are driven by 
poverty, others by the love of adventure. Incursions 
are made into preserves ; a couple of guineas perhaps 
is the reward of a night's sport, as much as they could 
make by honest labour in a month. Eiotous dissipation 
and idleness are sure to follow ; they must try it again 
and again. They are caught ; to jail with them is the 
order. The chaplain there finds it impossible to effect 
the slightest reformation on them ; they indignantly 
deny that they are thieves. They confess to having 
broken a law, but then it is a law of man's making, not 
of God's creating ; for, unfortunately, this law carries 
not on its front the broad impress of truth and justice 
which all laws ought to have. When you remember 
that there are nearly five thousand people convicted 
annually for offences against these laws, that poachers 
shoot gamekeepers, and gamekeepers shoot poachers, 
that we have jailings, trials, transportations, and hang- 
ings — men with spirits burning with fiendish passion 
hurried into the presence of their Maker, — when we 
remember that all this is done for ' sport' for one class, 
am I not justified in asking your assistance to rid the 
country of such a crying evil ?" 



CHAPTEE IX. 



FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE TO HIS BROTHER ADAM. 

"Fenton Barns, 29th October 1848. 
" We should have written in the middle of the month 
to have told yon that John is the tenant of South 
Elphinston, in the parish of Tranent. He enters at 
Martinmas, i.e. in three weeks. The last crop was sold 
off the ground, the straw not being steelbow. This 
makes the entry a little more difficult than usual, but 
I daresay I shall be able to raise the necessary funds. 
... I have been selling my railway shares under their 
fearful depreciation. ... I unfortunately hold eighteen 
shares in the Cattle Insurance Company which D. Wilkie 
manages in Scotland. It has been a losing concern, and I 
am going up to London on Thursday to try and get them 
to take my shares off my hands. The risk they run for 
such a small body of proprietors is enormous, and makes 
me nervous to think of, and I am resolved to be quit of 
them at whatever cost. I have taken a perfect horror 
at joint-stock companies, especially where the liability is 
unlimited. John will finish this letter, and I shall 
only add that we are all well, and thriving in our bodies 
if not in our estate." 



176 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE, 

FROM MR. JOHN HOPE. 

" Fenton Barns, 29th October 1848. 
" It was only last night that the ' black crops ' were 
finally housed. East Fenton park was a splendid crop ; 
the stooks stood like a dense forest. We had three sets 
of carts, and the sight was exhilarating. . . . My father 
has again wonderfully recovered. None of us antici- 
pated so distinct a deliverance from the utter prostration 
and ruin, as it seemed, of the outward temple. He is 
still unable to walk without assistance, but the other 
day he signed his name with his left hand." [He was 
never again able to walk without assistance.] 

FROM MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

" Fenton Barns, 28th April 1849. 
" I used to hear my father say, that ' when you did 
not hear from or see your friends as you were in the 
habit of doing, you might depend upon it that things 
were not thriving with them.' I am afraid that a feel- 
ing of this sort, viz. that affairs are not going on as 
swimmingly as I should like, has in part operated in 
giving me a dislike to all correspondence unless on 
business. Not that I have so very much to complain of 
either, but what with losses on shares, my spring wheat 
turning out indifferently, and 100 acres of turnips leav- 
ing me not one sixpence of profit after paying my oil- 
cake bill and for corn consumed by the cattle and sheep, 
I find myself comparatively a poor man : not also but 
that I have plenty to go on farming as highly as ever, 
and to enable John to do justice to his new undertaking, 
but I have nothing more than what I calculate we shall 
both need to lay in our cattle and sheep in good time 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 177 

after harvest ; . . . but I live in hopes of better times 
coming again. I had got too much accustomed to think 
that everything I put my hand to must thrive, and I 
have been punished for my presumption. But a truce 
to croaking. 

" I enjoyed my trip with Mr. Miller to Manchester. 
We saw everything worth seeing in the shape of mills, 
machinery, etc., besides making the acquaintance of 
many people worth knowing. We received every sort 
of attention. We went to Eochdale and visited Mr. 
Bright, whose manufactories were the largest we saw. 
. . . When at Manchester I called on a Unitarian 
minister, Mr. G-askell, whose wife is the authoress of 
Mary Barton, and a daughter of the late Mr. W. Steven- 
son of London. Mrs. Gaskell told me she was not a 
twelvemonth old when her mother died, and that she had 
not a single relic that her mother had ever touched. I 
sent her seven letters from her mother to mine — one of 
them written a week or two before her death." 

FROM MRS. GASKELL TO MR. GEORGE HOPE. 

"121 Upper Rumeord Street, 

Manchester, lZth February. 

" I will not let an hour pass, my dear sir, without 

acknowledging your kindness in sending me my dear 

mother's letters, the only relics of her that I have, and 

of more value to me than I can express, for I have so 

often longed for some little thing that had once been 

hers or been touched by her. I think no one but one 

so unfortunate as to be early motherless can enter into 

the craving one has after the lost mother. ... It never 

entered my head to imagine you wished to see me for 

any other reason than as the daughter of old friends. 



178 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

You cannot think how it gratified me to be sought out 
for their sakes, — a gratification I should certainly have 
been very far from feeling if I had for a moment sus- 
pected you of coming from mere curiosity. I have been 
brought up away from all those who knew my parents, 
and therefore those who come to me with a remem- 
brance of them as an introduction seem to have a holy 
claim on my regard. ... If either you or Mr. Miller 
come again to Manchester you must come to us and 
see if we cannot give you such accommodation as you 
require, without going to an hotel. . . . — Ever yours 
very truly, 

" Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell." 

The following are extracts from letters from my 
father to his brothers, written between the years 1849 
and 1851 :— 

" 30^ April 1849. 

" My father enjoys wonderful health. Though he 
cannot walk without assistance he looks well, being fat 
and rosy. ... E. is a merry little fellow, a miniature of 
the elder Eobert Hope, both in mind and body. P. is 
a fat, riotous fellow, most determined on his meat ; he 
roars impatiently when he sees food till the spoon is 
put into his mouth." 

" Fenton Barns, by Drem, 

29th November 1849. 

" You will see by the heading of this that Drem has 
at last been converted into a post-town, and we do find 
it a very great advantage. Many people do not seem 
satisfied with putting simply Drem on our letters, ap- 
parently thinking it can never find us, so they put below 
it either Haddington or North Berwick, which frequently 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 179 

makes them later of reaching us than they would other- 
wise be. Your letter of the 8th October I despatched 
at once to the Scotsman. . . . Before the editor got your 
letter he asked me to send the first that came, as the 
Canadian Tories were systematically getting paragraphs 
inserted in all the home papers representing Canada as 
ripe for revolt, and doing their best to frighten the 
people at home into the belief that in a short time 
Canada would join the States. I heard a number of 
people talking about your letter who did not know who 
wrote it. . . . 

" . . . My father is as energetic as ever in mind, and 
he takes as much interest in everything that goes on. 
If he could only express himself in words ; but we can 
scarcely hope for this again." 

"30t7i January 1850. 

" The Protectionists are making a sad yell, but here 
I think it is more to get a reduction of rent than any- 
thing else ; very few of them ever expect or even wish 
to see Protection restored, but they want an excuse 
for an abatement of rent. The leader in the Scotsman, 
in reply to Blackivood, was partly from my pen, but 
amplified by Mr. Eussel, the editor. He was here all 
Sunday, and we concocted a second, which was to be 
in this day's paper. The first, with additions, has been 
printed as a pamphlet, and all sold. It is to be re- 
printed, with the second attached. Notwithstanding 
that it was an intense frost, and we were almost out of 
work, I heard that it has been said in Edinburgh that 
I have begun to neglect my farm, writing books. I am 
resolved this shall not be said of me ; but it shows that 
if you attack any system vigorously, its defenders do 
not hesitate to raise a cry against you." 



180 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

"31st January. 

" I have just got copies of yesterday's Scotsman, and 
a note from the editor ; in consequence of a breakdown 
of the mail, my proof corrections of the leader were not 
received in time. It is a pity, for it would have read 
much better, especially about Mr. Watson's green crop." 

" Fenton Barns, Drem, 
Zlst March 1851. 

" I have entered into another speculation, having taken 
the Dirleton common and the park betwixt Dirleton 
and Archerfield. There are 300 acres of links and 60 
acres in the park. ... It is worth more to me than to 
anybody else, both for the stock I need for this farm 
and from the same shepherd managing both Linkhouse 
and it. It keeps about 300 ewes and lambs, and 40 
cattle. These things absorb the whole of my surplus 
cash. I am pleased at this addition to my holdings, 
as I have long had an eye on the common. Mr. 
Msbet once offered it to my father, but he could not 
spare the necessary funds. It would have been galling 
to me had I been in the same position when it was 
offered to me." 

"29th May 1851. 
" I communicated the contents of your letter to aunt 
H., and gave her from you £1, the balance left by her 
deceased husband, and £5 over and above. I said I 
was commissioned by you to give her a further sum 
when I thought she required it. You must know she 
is just the old woman, still thoughtless and extravagant 
whenever she has money in her pocket. I have con- 
stantly to be giving her. Aunt B. has gone into the 
new house which I have purchased. . . . 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 1 8 1 

" We had a pleasant bufc short visit from your friend 
Mr. B., to attend the market. I drove him up to Had- 
dington in the gig. . . . Next day I had to go to S., as 
it was the day of the sale of the stocking, etc., and from 
being judicial manager my presence was indispensable. 
... I committed a very great oversight in leaving 
Mr. B. at Drem station. I never shook hands with 
him. I got into a brown study, first regarding America, 
next as to these S. matters, and the train coming up, I 
thought of nothing but securing my place ; so I left Mr. 
B. standing on the platform without saying farewell. 
The moment the train was in motion I recollected what 
I had done, and felt greatly annoyed. Please make 
my best apologies to Mr. B., and express to him how 
much I regretted it. I may tell you that Mr. B. 
seemed to think J.'s intellect was rather prematurely 
developed. ... I need riot say that this is a mistake 
that parents sometimes fall into, but which leaves a 
regret only once repented of, and that is for ever. I 
trust you will not err in this, and that her body will 
increase in strength as fast as, or (as it should be) faster 
than, her mind. ... I prefer to see my C. playing and 
romping with her brothers to sitting in a corner reading 
a book, as she is rather often. 

" Things generally are getting well on here, but every- 
body has something to annoy them. I was quite pleased 
to get the Dirleton grass, but latterly part of the cattle 
have been seized with pleuro-pneumonia; one animal 
is already dead, and two are dying. I have been in the 
middle of Dirleton common both yesterday morning 
and this, before five o'clock. I hope, however, that it 
will stop, and that we shall have no more of it." 



182 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

"29th June. 

"I propose starting for London on the 11th July to 
visit the Exhibition. Everybody hereabouts is going 
or gone. Mrs. Ferguson left Areherfield last week, 
and she has sent her servants, land- steward, gardeners, 
gamekeepers, etc., and she also franks the clergy of 
whom she is patron." 

TO MRS. HOPE. 

" Wheathamstead Place, \Wi July 1851, 
Sunday morning, 7.45 a.m. 

" You will see by the heading of this that we have 
reached Mr. L.'s in perfect safety. On Eriday we got 
to Newcastle at half-past three o'clock, where we found 
Mr. Harris waiting for us. He took us through the 
town, and showed us all the curiosities of the place. 
. . . The glory of Newcastle is the high-level bridge, 
with the railway on the top and the carriage-road 
below. We walked across it the better to enjoy the 
view. Mr. Harris kept it to the last, and he told us 
not to look over on the river and shipping until he 
gave the word. It was a spirit-stirring scene, making 
one almost giddy to look down. . . . We left Newcastle 
in the morning at 8.15. . . . The country from Don- 
caster to Huntingdon was new to me ; I should not 
like to stay in it ; it is much too flat, and there was a 
constant smell of burnt peat ; but such continued large 
breadths of wheat I never saw, and every field as strong 
as it could stand. When we come nearer this we get 
into the chalk formation, where the soil is light and 
sandy, and consequently the crops have suffered more 
from the drought. . . . I had a headache the last hour 
in the train. I thought when I came here I should 



MEMOIK OF GEOEGE HOPE. 183 

have to go to bed, but when I drank a . cup or two of 
tea it went quite away. . . ." 

" l&th July, 6 o'clock a.m. 
" I despatched an epistle to you yesterday morning, 
and I have now got up to tell you of some things I 
forgot, some that I had not time for, and some that 
have happened since. I should have told you more 
particularly about the Museum at Newcastle, which 
was founded by Mr. Turner, the predecessor of Mr. 
Harris. The things which interested me most were 
two large fossil trees of the pine species, found 800 feet 
below the earth's surface ; two beds of coal were wrought 
above them, and they were found in an underbed of 
coal, standing quite upright and through the bed of 
coal. The trees, birds, fishes, and reptiles found in a 
fossil state in the different rocks were numerous, and 
are intensely interesting ; I was only sorry that we had 
not more time to spare for them. . . . Yesterday fore- 
noon we took a short turn through Mr. L.'s premises ; 
then we went to church, where we heard a feeble 
sermon from a noble text, ' I am not ashamed of the 
gospel of Christ.' . . . There were a lot of girls from 
the National School, another lot of boys in a gallery, a 
few respectable-looking people up and down the church, 
and a very few labourers in smock-frocks, boots, and 
leather-leggings ; the boots were heavy and strong, and 
' brawns to their legs they had none.' In the afternoon 
we went out to survey Mr. L.'s premises. [Here follows 
a minute description of the crops.] He has a small 
four-wheeled gig in which he drove a pony when I was 
here formerly, but yesterday he put an ass into it, and 
he then drove Mr. Miller through his farm, and I 
walked. . . . We leave this at eight o'clock for Loudon. 



184 MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 

... I must not yet begin to weary to see your face, 
nor those of my blessed bairns, before, at all events, that 
I have bought the knives." 

" London - , \5th July 1851, 6 a.m. 
"... Now comes the grand question, ' What do you 
think of the Great Exhibition ? ' . . . It appeared to 
me, as it has done to others, more an imagination of 
Eairy-land, or an Eastern tale, than sober reality. I 
could not attend to any one thing in particular, but for 
four hours I rambled about. . . . What struck me most 
was the glorious sculpture. In the Austrian division 
there was a veiled nun which was executed in a very 
extraordinary manner, in fact every figure there was 
faultless. The Austrians, from what I have yet seen, 
appear to me to carry away the palm for taste both in 
statuary and furniture. There are perhaps as fine 
statues, such as Satan and Eve, the Greek Slave, and 
one or two others, but all the Austrian statues are 
superb, — they have so much beauty and life in them. 
The Koh-i-noor seemed to me to be a bit of very clear 
glass about the size of the cork-piece of a wine-decanter 
stopper ; it seemed so odd to see a piece of glass covered 
with a strong cage and a railing outside, in which 
stands a policeman to keep off the crowd. . . . The 
stained glass appeared to me very fine, and also some 
of the china and porcelain. It was curious to contrast 
the productions of ChiDa, Tunis, and Spain with those 
of more civilised countries. The machinery depart- 
ments I have only glanced at ; however, I did not forget 
to examine the reaping-machines in the American 
division ; I am pleased with the look of one of them, 
but the practical test is necessary before giving any 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 185 

decisive opinion in its favour. . . . Mr. Miller got 
tired, so we left at four o'clock, and took an omnibus to 
the York Hotel, where Mr. L. puts up. and we dined 
there. Mr. L. and I went out afterwards the length of 
Mr. Mechi's shop, where I bought a razor. I also 
bought the fruit-knife to C. and the knives to the boys ; 
so tell them I have not forgotten them. We had some 
interesting talk with two English farmers at the York 
Hotel ; Mr. Miller and I astonished them by saying we 
could pay our rents. We explained that we had corn 
rents. ' Ah,' said they, ' we could do the same if in 
your position.' Then said I, ' It is a question of rent V 
They had to admit it, but unwillingly. . . . Mr. L. is to 
call for us at half-past nine, and we go to call on Mr. 
Cobden, who lives near the Exhibition. Mr. Bright is 
not in town." 

" l§th July, 7 a.m. 

" It was a great gratification to me last night, when 
I came in fatigued, to find your letter with the welcome 
intelligence that you were all in your usual health on 
the previous morning. . . . Well, yesterday, when Mr. L. 
came at half-past nine, we took a cab and drove to 
Mr. Cobden's ; we were kindly received, and introduced 
to Mrs. Cobden and Mr. Eichard Cobden, junior. . . . 
The boy is perhaps ten years of age, and has a very 
large, well-developed head. Mr. Cobden drove us to 
the House of Commons, as there was a morning sitting, 
and, having put us into the Speaker's gallery, took his 
place in the House. The business was the County 
Courts Bill. The Solicitor- General spoke long and 
well, but had to give in as to who should practise 
before these courts. He (the Solicitor- General) wished 
to confine it to attorneys and barristers, one of each. 



186 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

After several others spoke, most of them in the midst 
of much noise, Mr. Cobden rose ; at once you might 
have heard a pin fall, and in a very few sentences he 
put the matter in a true light. He said . . . that there 
was to be no monopoly, that the suitor might employ 
nobody or anybody he pleased, and there was tremen- 
dous cheering. Afterwards Mr. Cobden spoke again, 
and with the same effect. After a vast deal of talk, 
strangers were ordered to withdraw, but no division 
took place, as the Government gave in, and Mr. Cobden 
came to us rejoicing in his victory. He took us to the 
House of Lords (where we saw the Lord Chancellor 
and some others), and to see the proceedings before a 
Committee of the House of Commons. With Mr. Smith, 
the Member for Dunfermline, we went over all the New 
Houses of Parliament. We met with large numbers of 
Members who attributed to Mr. Cobden the victory 
gained. When we were in the gallery Sir H. Davie 
saw us, and came up beside us for a good while, and 
told us the names of the various speakers ; he asked us 
to dine with him on Thursday, and we are going. 
When Mr. Smith and I were walking together, we met 
Mr. Christopher, who stopped and shook hands with 
me, and after some little talk, I joined my friends again. 
He looked surprised to see me with Mr. J. B. Smith ; 
you know Smith is a Unitarian, and we were very 
gracious. Mr. Miller and I got a beef-steak in an 
eating-house, and went off to the Exhibition, and spent 
a couple of hours amongst the agricultural implements, 
but there was really nothing new. . . . Kindest love 
to father and mother, and kisses to C, E., P., and the 
baby." 



MEMOIE OF GEOEGE HOPE. 187 

"London, 17th July 1851. 
" On my return from Windsor last night I was re- 
warded by your letter of Tuesday morning. . . . Yester- 
day morning after breakfast we started for the Waterloo 
station, calling on the way at the York Hotel for Mr. L. 
At the station we found a very great crowd. Train 
after train was sent off as fast as possible; we saw three 
go off before we could get a seat. At last Mr. Miller 
and I got into one, but Mr. L. was left on the platform, 
and that was the last I saw of him. We arrived at 
Windsor about twelve o'clock, and found the showyard 
close to the station. The show was the best I have 
ever seen both in numbers and quality. . . . There 
were one or two polled Angusshire and Aberdeen cattle 
that attracted the notice of the Londoners. I heard 
one say, ' Why, these beasts are as good as the Sussex!' 
In my opinion they were better. It was astonishing 
what a number of people we met in the showyard that 
we knew. . . ." 

" 18th July 1851. 
" It is now half-past five o'clock in the morning, and 
it was just twelve when I turned into bed, so I have 
not had a very long sleep. I got your letter of the 
1 6th last night from the hands of the postman myself, 
as we returned from the Exhibition to dress for Sir 
H. Davie's. I was so glad as we came to the door to 
see the postman advance with your hand of writ; I 
claimed it at once ; the man smiled and gave it me. . . . 
I cannot say that I like much any of the bairns riding 
in Uncle John's dog- cart ; it wants something to keep 
them in. I know, however, that John is very careful, 
and that he will see that no harm happens to them. 
I am glad the hay is in all safe. Let me know if the 



188 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Puddenbutts turnips are singled. . . . Yesterday we 
spent about four hours in the Exhibition examining the 
productions of the United States, Bussia, and Denmark. 
Mr. Miller has just looked into the room to say it is 
time to leave, but I have pleaded for a little delay. We 
are going to-morrow to see Mr. Houghton, the greatest 
farmer in England. He bought part of Bagshot Heath, 
and has brought it into cultivation, and we go to 
inspect it." 

" 19th July, 8 o'clock a.m. 
" I got your letter of the 1 7th last night, or rather 
this morning at one o'clock. 'Fine hours to be keeping!' 
you will say to yourself ; but don't condemn me until 
you hear how I passed the day. I popped my yester- 
day's letter into the post-office at a quarter before 
seven, and with Mr. Miller took a cab to the York 
Hotel, where we picked up Mr. L. and drove to the 
Waterloo Station, where we took return tickets to the 
Staines Station. Mr. John Houghton of Sunninghill 
had a dog-cart there waiting which took us to his house 
in about an hour and a half. We breakfasted with 
him and started for Hannichigan Lodge, which we 
reached in two hours ; it is a part of Bagshot Heath, 
and has just been reclaimed by Mr. Houghton. [My 
father then describes Mr. Houghton's estate, the geolo- 
gical formation which it is on, the quality of the soil, 
the depth of the drains, and the number of yards which 
they are apart ; the quality of the drain-tiles, and the 
machine by which they are made ; the number of acres 
under each different species of crop, and what the crop 
was on the same ground the previous year, etc. etc. 
He continues :] It was nearly eight o'clock before we 
got over all the place. . . . We caught the last train, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 189 

which brought us back to London at 12.25, and we 
came into this house as it struck one. I read your 
letter, which kept me awake thinking of Fenton Barns 
and all its treasures for half an hour. I fell asleep, 
and slept soundly until seven o'clock. As it has now 
struck nine I will go and see what Mr. Miller is about, 
and prepare for our day's work. . . . 

" I have looked into Mr. Miller's room and found 
him still in bed, so I have returned to fill up this sheet ; 
he is quite well, however, and I find myself as strong 
as a lion. I think I said in my last that I expect to 
be home on Monday or Tuesday week. I do not know 
exactly what we shall do to-day. I should myself like 
to go to the Exhibition. ... I really wish you saw it : 
I think John must make a run up after harvest ; he 
may depend upon it he will never see the like again." 

" Sunday morning, 8 o'clock, 
20th July. 

" It makes me always so happy when I come in at 
night and find a letter from you. I read it again and 
again, and fancy what you are all doing at the particular 
time. ... I am not sure if I can stay away another 
whole week. We have made up our minds to leave 
this on Wednesday for Crix. On Thursday we go to 
Tiptree, to inspect Mr. Mechi. . . . Yesterday, we went 
again to the Exhibition, and it was the most satisfac- 
tory visit we paid to it ; there was not such a crush as 
formerly. W x e met a great many East Lothian people 
and folks we know. ... I took another look at the 
agricultural implements, but hurriedly. I noticed upon 
one of the most barbarous turnip-drills I ever witnessed 
— 'Included in the great silver medal/ etc. If the 



190 MEMOIE OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

judges really approved of such an implement, all I can 
say is that they know nothing about economy, for it 
would be heavy work for three or four horses for the 
drawing of a machine which only requires one. I do 
not know how it is, but I ever find myself before 
leaving the Exhibition drawn to the statuary. I cannot 
tell you with what feelings of delight I gaze on it. 
There is a boy, and a great dog killing a serpent ; the 
terror on the boy's face and rage on that of the dog is 
true to life. Another of the same, the head of the 
serpent off, the boy hugging the dog, and the look of 
satisfaction on the animal's face is again a *true 
picture. . . ." 

" 21st July, half-past 7 a.m. 

". . . Yesterday, about half-past twelve, we took an 
omnibus to give us a lift towards Kensal Green Ceme- 
tery. Who should jump in but Moncreiff, the Lord 
Advocate of Scotland, so it is evident he leaves his 
Free Church prejudices on the north side of the Tweed. 
The omnibus stopped at the head of Westbourne Terrace, 
and we walked the rest of the way. As we passed a 
church dispersing, some one hailed us, and turning 
round, we beheld Mr. Cobden making after us ; he had 
seen us from the steps of the church. He kindly chid 
us for not coming to see him again. We told him we 
were engaged, and we knew his time to be valuable. 
Mr. Miller told him we were going to visit the grave 
of Mr. Ferguson of Eaith, our late landlord and kind 
friend. ' Ah,' said he, ' he was a good man, but do you 
not come under Mr. Christopher, who is rather a queer- 
looking customer ; how do you like him V Mr. Miller 
replied, 'Mr. Christopher is yet unproved,' and after 
some further chat we parted. We found the walk to 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 191 

the Cemetery rather long, but at last we reached it. . . . 
After walking about a little we went to an inn and had 
dinner; we then fortunately got an omnibus which 
took us to the City, and having put Mr. Miller into a 
hansom- cab with proper directions to the driver to take 
him to this house, I wended my way to the London 
Bridge station, and took the train to Norwood. ..." 

"22dJuly. 

"... The illness of R put me out at first more 
than my judgment allowed ; for I could see, from 
John's letter, that he was not very ill; but then I 
was far away from him, and you were to start on a 
fatiguing journey with baby in your arms. I hope to 
hear this afternoon that he is again at Eenton Barns, 
and in his usual health. 

" I have not much to tell you to-day. We went to 
the Exhibition yesterday, but the crowd was great. . . . 
Some of the furniture, ticketed as made by the Asso- 
ciated Workmen of Paris, was about the finest I have 
seen. ... I do regret that you cannot see the Exhibi- 
tion, . . . but tell John he must see it if he should 
live upon pease-brose for the next twelve months. 
Kiss my blessed babes for me. I hope you have them 
all around you." 

" 23d July. 
"Your letter from Elphinston cheered me much by 
informing me of little E. being again in good health. 
I watched for the postman at four o'clock yesterday 
with great anxiety. . . . Mr. Miller has just looked 
in on me to say that all his traps are packed and in 
travelling order. . . ." 



192 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

" Crown and Anchor Hotel, Ipswich, 
25th July, half-past 6 o'clock a.m. 

" I was really delighted yesterday morning at getting 
your letter of Tuesday. It was so unexpected that the 
understanding of ' a surprise/ so pleasant to certain 
little folks, was made clearly plain. . . . Yesterday we 
were at Tiptree. . . . Mr. Mechi introduced us to two 
or three gentlemen ; one, a French Count, asked me if 
it was me that spoke about wheats at the Highland 
Society's meetings. He said he had some of the Fenton 
wheat in his portmanteau to take to his own country. 
... A trial of the implements from the Great Exhibi- 
tion by the English Agricultural Society was being 
made on Mr. Mechi's fields. The ploughs — American, 
French, and English — all appeared to me to be very 
imperfect implements. ... I am certain that a Scotch 
swing-plough would have beat the whole lot. The 
greatest interest was regarding the two American reap- 
ing-machines. Mr. Mechi allowed them to cut away 
at his splendid wheat, though it was not ripe, simply to 
gratify the 150 or 200 spectators. One of the machines 
did the work well, unless that it made the stubble 
rather high ; the other only cut a little bit, but that 
beautifully, when it seemed to choke, and they never 
could get it to go again. . . . We got here last night at 
twelve, and are on our way to Swaffham." 

" Swaffham, 26th July. 
" ... I am getting very impatient to get home. We 
go to see Mr. Hudson of Castle-acre's Farm this fore- 
noon ; then we go to Lyme. If I remain in my present 
mind the chances are I am at Drem on Tuesday at half- 
past one o'clock p.m. We left Ipswich yesterday at 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. ' 193 

eight o'clock, were at Norwich at half-past ten ; left at 
eleven for Wymondham ; stopped there an hour ; then 
on to Dereham, where we were detained three hours. 
It was the most fatiguing day we have had. . . ." 

" Lyme Regis, Sunday, Tltli July. 
" I am very much afraid we shall be unable to get 
away to-morrow. . . . Mr. D. has written to individuals 
to say that we are to call and inspect their farms, and 
it would be positively rude to disappoint him. ... I 
almost turn sick to think I must put down another day 
for getting home. ... I so long to get home again that 
farming and everything else seems to me almost con- 
temptible, and still I feel I must go through with it. 
Yesterday, we went to Castle-acre, the residence of Mr. 
Hudson. We drove round his farm, and through it. 
... One thing struck me, viz., throughout all the 
turnip-fields there were, here and there, rows of buck- 
wheat, which were sown to feed pheasants and part- 
ridges for Mr. Hudson's shooting. The farmers there 
have a pack of hounds ; one of them is Master of the 
Hounds, and gets subscriptions to pay their keep from 
other farmers. One farmer went to London lately to 
inspect the Exhibition, and sent three horses up that 
he might ride in the Park. . . . Yet these men say 
they are ruined by Free-trade. ... I hardly expect 
to be home on Tuesday evening, but I may say on 
Wednesday at half-past one I shall be at Drem." 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

"Fenton Barns, 29th September 1851. 

"... But to come to my great crop, — potatoes. 
Again I am pleased with the prospect. There is more 

N 



194 • MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

disease than there has been for two years ; still, the 
proportion of tubers affected is small in comparison 
to the crop. The potatoes in East Fenton Park (after 
turnips) are the finest I ever saw growing ; many- 
people from a distance have come to see them, and 
they say nothing like them is to be seen in Britain. 
Many of the stems are from five to six feet in length. 

"... Our bairns have been staying at Linkhouse for 
five or six weeks, and have come home as strong and 
healthy as possible. We fitted up two cot-houses at 
the Links, converting them into one, and made a nice 
comfortable place for about £15." [My father occa- 
sionally spent a day or two in this luxurious abode, 
and would dig for sand-eels with his children on the 
beach, and hunt for crabs with them on the rocks, with 
as much apparent enjoyment as if these pastimes had 
been his own greatest pleasures.] 

" Uth March 1852. 

" The grain crop has turned out remarkably well ; 
I think the average yield of grain of all kinds will be 
greater than T ever remember on Fenton Barns, and as 
rents are moderate (the fiars being Is. per qr. less than 
last year) I shall do pretty well. 

" We are all pretty much as usual here, my father 
being stout and healthy. We have got an Albert car, 
which is simply a low-hung dog-cart, and he will not 
now ride in the old gig, he gets so much easier out and 
in of the car, it being but a low step from the ground." 
[My father was afraid that my grandfather would con- 
sider the purchase of this vehicle to be a piece of reck- 
less extravagance, and broke the news to him as gently 
as possible, telling him that the new carriage would be 
used only on special occasions. He was taken for his 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 195 

daily drive in it on the day of its arrival, but on the 

following day the old gig was brought to the door as 

usual. Being able to express himself only by signs, he 

gesticulated violently, motioning for the gig to be taken 

away and the new purchase brought round ; nor would 

he ever enter the gig again.] 

" 1st August 1852. 

" You will be pleased to hear that Sir Henry Davie 
has been returned by a triumphant majority for the 
Haddington burghs. I was very anxious about it, and 
was four days in Haddington last week. Professor 
Swinton talked most confidently about being returned, 
and his people offered to bet 3 to 1 that he would be 
successful, so that I thought some artful dodge was to 
be tried ; but it turned out as we expected, or rather 
better, as every doubtful voter voted in the end for Sir 
Henry. ... If things had not gone well at the Had- 
dington election, I was to have come home and taken 
my father up to vote. When I came home in the even- 
ing I found him dressed in his best suit of blacks, and 
not altogether pleased that he had not been sent for. 
He had even been at Drem inquiring at the railway 
station ; but James, his man, thought it better not to 
go without my orders when he heard that Sir Henry 
was so far ahead. E. has interrupted me till he writes 
to his cousin R in America. I enclose his epistle." 

" 15th September 1852. 

" Before this reaches you, you will have learned from 
my sad note of the 2d that on that day our dear father 
departed this life. I never come into the room but 
somehow I expect to be welcomed by his kind smile. 
We have been so long accustomed to have him here in 
his ailing way, that we miss him much. He was so 



196 MEMOIE OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

methodical ; everything had to be done to a minute, — 
breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper ; the window-blinds 
up, and the window-blinds down ; up in the morning, 
and to bed at night. His drives out, etc., were every 
day performed to a minute. Everything went like 
clock-work. Was there a wrinkle on the carpet, or a 
chair out of its place, all was noticed in a moment, but 
ever in a kindly way, and with a laugh, as if fully 
sensible that it was but a trifling matter ; yet he wished 
it so, and every one in the house ran faster than 
another to please grandpapa. It is all over now, and 
may God forgive me if sometimes I felt fretted in heart 
when, being busy, he asked me to attend to these little 
matters oftener than I thought he might have done, 
After all, it was a mercy that his last illness was short 
and his sufferings apparently not great. I did not 
know when he ceased to breathe ; his latter end was so 
peaceful. Still, it was a sad shock to us all. . . . The 
funeral took place on Monday the 6th. We only asked 
the farmers adjoining and some friends in Haddington. 
Out of fifty-two invitations only four people did not 
come, and they could not. . . . You would see the 
notice in the Scotsman regarding my father ; it was 
copied into a number of papers." 

If my father thought that my grandfather asked him 
to attend to trifles oftener than necessary, certainly no 
one ever perceived that he thought so. " He attended 
to his father's every want, and no matter what the 
occupation from which he might be called away, not one 
impatient word was ever heard to cross his lips, not one 
vexed look was ever seen upon his face." He was in 
the habit of consulting my grandfather about the farm- 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 197 

ing operations ; he also read over to him whatever he 
wrote for the newspapers. Although unable to speak, 
my grandfather could evince his disapproval of any 
sentence to which he objected in a most unmistakable 
manner, and when he did so, my father would try the 
sentence in different ways until he expressed satisfac- 
tion. 

PARAGRAPH FROM THE SCOTSMAN ON THE " DEATH OF MR. 
ROBERT HOPE, FENTON BARNS." 

" We regret to record the death, though at an advanced 
age, of Mr. Eobert Hope, for upwards of half a century 
tenant of the farm of Fenton Barns, East Lothian, and 
who in the days of his vigour held a prominent position 
in connection with Scottish agriculture. Mr. Hope was 
early noted as a skilful and intelligent cultivator, and 
was one of the pioneers in those improvements in the 
agriculture of Scotland which East Lothian may be said 
to have begun first and carried furthest. In early life 
Mr. Hope was a contributor to the Farmer's Magazine, 
and to the works published by Sir John Sinclair. 
Almost the last article of any length which he wrote was 
the General Observations on the county of Haddington 
in the New Statistical Account of Scotland, where he 
graphically describes the changes witnessed in a life- 
time. He remembered when the public roads in his 
neighbourhood were without metal, and ploughed up 
every summer to lessen the inequalities and remove the 
water, the whole condition of matters in the agricultural 
districts being at that time as primitive as the roads ; 
and he lived to see the best of roads intersecting a 
country cultivated like a garden, and a railway passing 
his own fields, carrying to market in tons and in a 



198 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

few minutes the produce which he used to see conveyed 
on horseback or by sea. Mr. Hope's reputation as an 
agriculturist, and as a man of general intelligence and 
probity, being more than local, he was one of the Scotch 
farmers selected to give evidence before the Parlia- 
mentary Committee on Agricultural Distress in 1836, 
and his evidence then given is very remarkable for ful- 
ness of information and clearness of statement, not only 
regarding questions purely agricultural, but on the 
Scottish banking system and other topics. Our own 
columns were early, and for a long time, enriched by con- 
tributions from Mr. Hope's pen on agriculture, local and 
general ; and otherwise, as to his son and successor Mr. 
George Hope, we have been indebted to an extent which 
we shall never be able adequately to acknowledge. In 
political and other questions, as well as in those con- 
nected with his own profession, Mr. Eobert Hope was 
always in advance of his times, and maintained a testi- 
mony for Liberal principles even in the dark days towards 
the close of the last century. In his personal qualities — 
in gentleness, benevolence, kindness, and the strictest and 
most sensitive integrity — Mr. Hope stood very high, and 
he enjoyed throughout life the respect and affection of 
his neighbours of all ranks and opinions. As a master, 
he was remarkable for his careful study, not only of the 
interests and comforts, but of the feelings of those he 
employed. For several years our departed friend, from 
bodily infirmity, has taken no part in public or pro- 
fessional affairs, devolving all his duties upon his son, 
Mr. George Hope, who, both as a politician and as an 
agriculturist, has given ample pledges that he will not 
discredit his progenitor." 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 199 

In sending the letters written to him by my father 
in 1852 and 1853, Mr. Adam Hope writes : " The first 
dawn of wealth from high farming begins to break on 
dear nncle George's vision, — well and worthily earned." 

He had now been farming for three-and-twenty years. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" Fenton Barns, 30th September 1852. 
" Our crop this year is the best ever grown on Fenton 
Barns. ... I have sold the half of my potatoes off the 
field to make sure of getting something. No doubt, if 
they keep, the profit would be immense, but then the 
risk is great. I am determined, if ever I get rich, it will 
be by slow and sure degrees, and no extra risks. The 
factor told me yesterday he would send me the draft of 
f a new lease in a day or two, so that I may consider 
myself fixed for life." [He was to pay a rise of rent 
of 100 bolls of wheat, besides interest for outlay to be 
made on buildings.] 

" 20th October 1852. 

" I am sorry to tell you that P. has been ill for the 
last ten days with scarlet fever. . . . He is a very stout 
boy, like what you were long ago, and he suffers more 
from any ailment than thinner children." 

" 2d December. 

" I am sure you will all sympathise with us in the 
loss we have sustained, our dear Christian [his third 
son] having passed from us yesterday morning. I wrote 
you some time ago that we had scarlet fever amongst 
the children. It is a month past on Saturday since 
Christian took ill, and through all this time we have 
feared that every day might be his last. My poor wife 



200 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

scarcely ever left him for a moment, and for days has 
scarcely slept. We began to think he would ultimately 
get over it, but he showed symptoms of declining 
strength on Saturday, . . . and yesterday morning 
breathed his last in his mother's arms. We have been 
in such anxiety for some time that it has only been 
with much effort that I could attend to anything else 
than the sufferer. Our elder children are all well 
again." 

" 21th January 1853. 

"You well express our feelings regarding our sad 
bereavements, and yet we sorrow not as those without 
hope. The entrance of death into a family is an event 
which I trust you will be long spared from knowing 
anything about. Yet we thank God for the memory of 
the past. My father's words and opinions come back 
with renewed force, and exercise over me, I think, even 
a stronger effect than when he was with us. And our 
dear boy, who suffered with such patience so very 
much, — I will carry with me to the grave the picture of 
his little anxious face, and again his beautiful counten- 
ance when he was no more. . . . He was the last 
person whose presence grandpapa noticed ; he seemed 
to waken up shortly before his death, and smiled on 
little Christian." 

" February 1853. 

" A letter of mine which Mr. Cobden read to the 
House of Commons has brought a host of wasps about 
me ; perhaps you might notice it in Mr. Cobden's 
speech on the Budget. . . . There is to be a dinner at 
Jedburgh to Sir H. Davie. It seems I must go and 
make a speech. Well, it shall be a short one ; I dislike 
speechifying." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 201 

" 10th August 1853. 

" You mention the probability of Mr. Y. giving us a 
call, and in reference to it you make a remark to the 
effect that you are averse to give trouble. I assure you 
that we will not esteem it any trouble to see and enter- 
tain to the best of our ability any friends of yours : in 
fact, we look upon a visit from anybody from Canada, 
who has even only seen you, as a great favour. 

" Poor aunt H. is still confined to bed. It is aston- 
ishing how she keeps the grip. I gave her the last of 
the money you sent her a week ago. In fact, she wrote 
for it on the last day of July, though I told her she was 
to get no more till August. 

" The new lease for Fenton Barns has never yet been 
written out. I am not at all afraid, however. They 
have commenced the buildings with a new granary, 
which is already half built. Mr. D. has got a new 
house, Mr. B. is also getting buildings, and Mr. H., — 
so Mrs. Ferguson is spending freely : she wishes every- 
thing done, I am told, before Lady Mary Christopher 
succeeds. 

"... You will see I have got a gold medal awarded 
me lately by the Highland Society for an experiment 
in feeding cattle." 

" 9lh October 1853. 

" Nothing has yet been done about the lease, but 
there is an understanding that it is all settled. I have 
long ago made up my mind not to ask for a lease again, 
being confident I am about as safe without one as with 
one. Mr. Christopher, the husband of the heiress, is 
staying at Archerfield ; he has been here twice seeing 
the reaping-machine. ... I do not think I have any- 
thing to fear from him, Tory though he is. 



202 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

" You know how largely I am interested in potatoes. 
. . . The crop is very large, and the prices most extra- 
ordinary. I am selling them as fast as I can. If disease 
does not overtake them I should realise a considerable 
little fortune." 

" 22c? November. 

" The potatoes are equal to the gold-diggings. . . . 
I will be much disappointed if they do not realise more 
than has ever previously been made in any two years 
off Fenton Barns ever since it was a farm. Did I 
mention in my last that I had taken the Haws or 
Hundred-acres [a tract of sandy grass land] from Mrs. 
Ferguson at the rent of £60 a year ? 

" The same day I last wrote you I received your kind 
letter of 29th October congratulating us on the birth of 
our son George. . . . The baby thrives nicely. . . . E. 
and P. go to school daily. E. bears a strong resem- 
blance to my father, having a large head and active 
brain. P. is a fat, jolly, good-humoured fellow. ... I 
am interrupted by some foreigners who have just passed 
the window." 



CHAPTER X. 

* The agricultural fame of Fenton Barns had now begun 
to spread abroad, and visitors from many countries 
arrived there. During the last two-and-twenty years 
that my father occupied it there came inquirers into 
Scottish agriculture from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, 
Holland, Eussia, Austria, etc. Swedes, 1 Danes, and 
Germans came in great numbers. Eussian visitors 
appeared much surprised at the comfort in which the 
agricultural labourers lived; it was, they said, very 
different from the state of the Eussian peasantry. 

The following is an example of a letter from a foreign 
visitor, and may show that strangers were not received 
inhospitably at Fenton Barns : — 

" My dear Sir, — You would surely have found it 
very curious that I would be able to leave your country 
without saying you and your kind lady thanks for that 
excellent day which I spent with you at Fenton Barns. 
But I only would be able to say to my excuse that 
during my stay in Great Britain every minute I had to 
spend was so valuable that I hardly was able to come 
to the writing-desk at all. The more I came to your 

1 In 1870 he was presented with a diploma constituting him a 
member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture. 



204 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

extraordinary country the more I admire it. Kindness 
has followed me from the beginning to the end in a 
way that I only could write to my people at home that 
I do not recollect at having spent twenty-four days 
equal to these. . . . 

" I once more repeat my warmest thanks to you and 
to Mrs. Hope, who surely did not receive me like a 
stranger, and beg you to be assured that I will not 
easily forget my stay at Fenton Barns. — Begging you 
to excuse my bad English, I always sign myself yours 
very truly." 

The same gentleman again writes (in a note by which 
he introduces a compatriot) : " I very often think back 
to that excellent day I spent with you, where I had 
every reason to admire your and Mrs. Hope's extra- 
ordinary hospitality ; the wandering of foreigners adopt- 
ing the character of a plague at your celebrated 
home." 

Americans also occasionally visited Fenton Barns. 
One of these came without any letter of introduction, 
having merely inquired of a hotel-keeper in Edinburgh 
which farm in the neighbourhood he would recommend 
him to visit, and the hotel-keeper having recommended 
Fenton Barns. My father spoke to this gentleman, as 
he usually did to any American whom he met, of his 
great admiration for his countryman, Dr. Channing, 
upon which it appeared that the visitor was a nephew 
of that divine's. It gave my father great pleasure to 
welcome beneath his roof a relative of Dr. Channing's, 
and the American gentleman, who had gone to Fenton 
Barns to see an example of Scotch agriculture, was 
surprised to find his uncle so highly appreciated in a 
Scotch farm-house. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 205 



TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 



"Fenton Barns, 25th February 1855. 
" Since the middle of January we have had constant 
frost and snow, so that most kinds of farm-labour have 
been at a stand-still for six weeks. We have had a 
great deal of curling. I was at the Great Caledonian 
Curling match at Carsebreck. Two rinks from Dirleton 
went ; and we contributed 38 spotts to the victory of 
the South of the Forth as against the North. I am most 
anxious for fresh weather, having taken the land occu- 
pied by Mr. Craven, north of the drain at Dirleton. 
There are 100 acres, and it is all to plough. I have 
bought additional horses, but they have as yet only 
eaten food and grown fatter. . . . .Farmers here have 
had a better time of it for some years past than I ever 
experienced in the life of my poor father. I have 
sometimes thought of making an investment in land on 
your side of the Atlantic, . . . but perhaps after all my 
best plan would be to save all the money I can for two 
or three years, and then try and buy a small piece of 
land here." 

" 22c? May 1855. 

"I have top-dressed every acre of my farm with 
either guano, bones, nitrate of soda, or sulphate of 
ammonia. This has cost me for Fenton Barns £1200, 
and for Mr. Craven's land £400, so if it does not look 
well it should. . . . We have bought a great many 
things for our new house. The o]d furniture having 
stood the tear and wear of fifty years, is now completely 
done. We are getting everything very plain, but of 
the best material that can be had. I have seen too 
much of the evil of buying cheap things to grudge the 
money." 



206 MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 

" 28th October. 

" We are all much pleased with the plan of your new- 
house. So far as the architectural design goes, it is 
superior to my house, but for internal convenience I 
cannot fancy anything better than we have got; we 
find it a great change every way. 

" Though we cannot expect to find our new laird, 
Mr. Nisbet Hamilton, equal to our good old lady in his 
consideration for the wishes and wants of all about him, 
yet what I have seen impresses me favourably with 
him ; so far as I am concerned, he has been most agree- 
able. Shortly after he came to Archerfield he called 
here, and said he would like me to continue to farm 
Mr. Craven's land ; he said he was afraid I would not 
make much of it, the soil being so bad [the soil was 
almost pure sea-sand]. I replied that I would be glad 
to plough it, and that I thought the soil could be made 
good with clay, of which there was plenty near the 
drain. Some time afterwards he had been shooting 
over it, and next day he was here wishing to know 
what I had done to the land. He was amazed with 
the crop ; could not have believed it ; reckoned it the 
most extraordinary instance of improvement in a short 
time he had ever known. By all means I was to go on 
farming it any way I liked, and if he could do anything 
to assist me, he would be happy. I suggested taking 
in all the land west of the Ware road, from the bridge to 
Yellowcraig [more sea-sand] ; so he is to remove the dike. 
... I mean to clay it all, and it will give me plenty of 
work for two pairs of horses." [On one occasion the 
crop on this land was blown right out of the ground.] 

Mr. Nisbet Hamilton (whose wife, upon the death of 
her mother, succeeded to the Dirleton estate in this 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 207 

year of 1855) had, as Mr. Dundas, 1 been Member for 
Edinburgh previous to the passing of the Keform Bill 
of 1832. The electors for the city of Edinburgh were 
then the members of the Town Council, who were self- 
elected. Seventeen persons voted for Mr. Dundas, 
against fourteen for his opponent Jeffrey. A petition 
in favour of Jeffrey had in two days been signed by 
17,400 of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, and almost all 
the public bodies in the city had also petitioned the 
Council in his favour. The people were infuriated at 
the return of Mr. Dundas, and the story goes that he 
was chased by the maddened populace along the para- 
pet of the North Bridge, although what object he could 
have in getting on the parapet it is difficult to perceive. 
The Lord Provost, a supporter of Mr. Dundas's, was 
forced to take refuge in a shop, from which he escaped 
by the back-door; the Eiofc Act was read, and the 
military were called out. 

The tenants on the Dirleton estate were, on the com- 
ing into power of Lady Mary and Mr. Nisbet Hamilton, 
immediately deprived of the liberty they had formerly 
enjoyed of shooting over their farms. This was fortu- 
nately no hardship to my father, who suffered little 
from game, and who had given up carrying a gun, after 
having once or twice nearly succeeded in shooting him- 
self, in consequence of, while thinking of something 
else, forgetting that he had a gun in his hand. 

The next proceeding of Mr. Nisbet Hamilton was to 
enclose within a wall the sea- shore adjoining his pro- 
perty, in order to prevent any one walking there, he 
being under the impression that it belonged to him ; 
but this was a mistaken idea on his part, and the wall 

1 He had twice changed his name, first from Dundas to Christo- 
pher, and afterwards to Nisbet Hamilton. 



208 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

was pulled down. He also endeavoured to prevent 
people from crossing the Dirleton common (land which 
my father rented from him). Seeing some one driving 
there he despatched one of his underlings to shut and 
lock a certain gate, so as to prevent the vehicle from 
passing through, but the messenger failed to accomplish 
this, the vehicle having passed before he arrived at the 
gate. It so happened that the person whom Mr. 
Hamilton had attempted to shut into the common was 
Prince Napoleon, who, after having inspected Fenton 
Barns, had gone to examine my father's farm at 
Dirleton; Mr. Hamilton, on learning that the tres- 
passer was a live Prince, sent after him to the station 
in hot haste to beg him to return, but the Prince had 
gone beyond recall, ignorant alike of Mr. Hamilton's 
desire to entertain him, and of his endeavour to lock 
him into the common. 

It was considered by all my father's friends to be a 
fortunate circumstance that his new lease of Fenton 
Barns was signed before Mrs. Ferguson's death. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" ISth May 1856. 

" I was in Edinburgh a fortnight ago hearing Kossuth 
lecture. I had the honour of an introduction, and 
accompanied him to the platform. He is a great 
orator, and I was delighted with the breadth and sim- 
plicity of. his notions of religious liberty ; the hearty 
manner in which they were responded to by the 
immense audience was equally gratifying. . . . 

" I am going to start to-morrow for Paris, being one 
of the deputation from the Highland Society to repre- 
sent Scotland at the great International Show to be 
held at Paris during the first week of June. I am a 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 209 

Director of the Highland Society. They elect one 
farmer for four proprietors, taking a farmer from each 
county to represent that county, and I am elected for 
East Lothian. . . . I am going along with part of the 
stock sent from Scotland. The Scottish trains meet at 
Lowestoft in Suffolk, and we sail to Dunkirk in a large 
steamer engaged for the purpose. I am sending only 
six Leicester ewes, but I have, besides the charge of the 
whole train, the particular charge, for sale, of several 
lots. My expenses are paid there, and for my first 
week in Paris, — afterwards I am at my own charge. I 
shall be absent for three weeks." 

TO MRS. HOPE. 

"Lowestoft, 21st May 1856. 
" I am glad to tell you we reached this place last 
night at ten o'clock all right, except that Mr. Gulland 
of Newton Wemyss's bull took ill, and had to be left at 
York. J. Elliott remained with him, and he telegraphed 
to me at Peterborough that the animal was dead. I 
have written to Mr. Gulland. I am very much vexed 
at this, though it cannot be helped. . . . The way was 
long, but I had a comfortable first-class carriage to my- 
self. At Norwich I had a headache, which continued 
to increase till I got to bed at half-past twelve, for I 
waited as long as I was able to see the cattle taken out 
of the truck. I got a cup of tea and went to bed, slept 
like a top, and woke this morning quite well. I dare- 
say it was the want of sleep. . . . Lowestoft is a pretty 
town, with a large harbour. I am staying at the Suffolk 
Arms, but sleeping out of the house. . . . The officials ' 
here seem very anxious to forward our business. The 
station-master, the harbour-master, and the French 

o 



210 MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Consul are Scotch, the two latter, however, being one 
person. I had been introduced to the harbour-master, 
and then when I waited on the French Consul I was 
surprised to find him the same man. The steamer for 
the stock has not yet arrived, which is the only draw- 
back, and we cannot now get away from here until 
Friday, at the soonest. The stock is all nicely housed, 
and I think it all highly creditable to Scotland. I will 
write you again to-morrow, but here there is only one 
post a day, and that at seven o'clock at night. I shall 
expect to hear from you at the Hotel de Louvre on 
Monday, but you need not write until you hear what 
I say in my next letter." 

" Hotel du Chapeau Rouge, 
Dunkerque, 24th May. 

" I am afraid you will have been fretting at not 
hearing from me, as I promised to write again from 
Lowestoft, but the steamer arrived the day after I 
wrote, about two o'clock p.m., and I went to make in- 
quiries. It was agreed that we should begin to load 
next morning. I then went and got something to eat, 
and was about to begin to write you when I got notice 
to see if we could not put the cattle on board that night 
and sail by the first tide at two o'clock in the morning. 
This was ultimately agreed on, and after allotting the 
vessel to the different beasts, we set to work about five 
o'clock to put the cattle on board. It was half-past 
eleven before we finished, and it was the most dis- 
agreeable job I ever had on hand. One beast jumped 
into the harbour and was drowned ; another got so 
excited, and was so nearly drowned, that we left it 
behind ; and another large animal was knocked up by 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 211 

the previous journey. The whole were despatched to 
be sold in London. I was very tired when we got 
finished, and I had some tea and toast, and went on 
board. This man thought we had given the best place 
to another, and his neighbour thought the very same, 
but by and by the recrimination ceased, and we sailed 
from Lowestoft at two a.m. It was a lovely day, and 
we had a delightful sail. We had a fine sight of the 
coast of England. The captain had never been at 
Dunkirk : he made for Calais, and then to some other 
small place, but he did not know where he was, and no 
pilot made his appearance to our signal. So we kept 
beating about, looking for Dunkirk, and sounding every 
few minutes to keep off sand-banks. At last we got a 
pilot, who brought us to the mouth of the harbour, and 
I came ashore along with four others, and reached this 
inn at ten o'clock at night, in the midst of a pelting 
rain. Mr. Maxwell was waiting for us with great 
anxiety. I got some supper and a glass of brandy- 
toddy, and went to bed, to make up for the want of 
sleep the previous night, never having been in bed, — 
in fact, there was only standing-room in the vessel. 
Mr. Maxwell, Mr. H., and Mr. S. returned to the har- 
bour, which is a good way off, and slept on sofas in a 
vessel, to be ready to take out all the animals the next 
morning, and they got them all out in an hour and a 
half, the speed being marvellous. The beasts are all in 
the byres of a distillery, and are comfortably placed. 
... I was very glad to leave the vessel last night, 
although I had a good way to come in rain ; I was so 
tired that I resolved Mr. Maxwell should have a trial 
of the unloading ; but the men were all as anxious to 
get out of the vessel as I was, so I hear it was easily 



212 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

managed. Mr. Tisserand was here this morning. I 
was up at the railway with him, and we have arranged 
about trucks for all the beasts. We are not to leave 
here until Tuesday evening at half-past six, half-past 
seven, and half- past eight o'clock ; in three divisions. 
It will take eleven hours to reach Paris. Our pass- 
ports were examined to-day by an official, and I had to 
go to the Custom-house and show my luggage. It was 
not a strict search that was made, though the officer 
seemed curious about my razor-strop ; he seized on it 
quickly, and felt it with his fingers, as if it was some- 
thing curious. A Mr. Bell, who was with me, had a 
sample of oil- cake neatly tied up, and the official 
examined it very carefully, as if he wondered what it 
was. ... I got up a little after six this morning to see 
about the aaimals, but I found the job was finished. 
... I breakfasted on claret, shrimps, omelette, steak, 
etc. ... If a day, or even two, should occur without 
your getting a letter, just place it to some accidental 
prevention, because if I was unwell in the least I 
should be sure to let you know." 

" Dunkirk, 25th May. 
"... After dinner yesterday, several of us went to 
see the stock, and we were just in time to prevent a 
serious accident, for Mr. Sadler's bull had got loose, 
and also one of Mr. Douglass's, and the men had all 
left the premises on one excuse or another; but Mr. 
Stronach, though rather an old man, rushed in and 
seized Mr. Sadler's beast, and we got them all tied up 
without any accident. All the people that could be 
spared from the byres came this morning for their pass- 
ports, and we all went in a body to the Catholic Church, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 213 

which is a large and handsome building. We were 
rather late, as the ceremonies were nearly over. The 
church was full of people, who made way until we 
walked round. On returning here the men came into 
the room, got a glass of brandy- and- water, etc., and Mr. 
M. made a. short address, exhorting them to behave as 
well as they had done hitherto. I did not see this 
latter part ... as I walked out to the country a mile 
or two. It seems a good soil, and the crops fine. . . . 
The canal seems to contain an immense number offish, 
as I saw people fishing every little bit, and catching 
plenty, but mostly small. There were a great many 
donkeys grazing, and many more with women riding 
on them, the saddles being made of sheepskins, and 
sometimes they had kegs filled with butter for the 
market tied behind them. ... I must stop, as I hear 
the Prefect is come with some friends, and wishes to 
see the cattle." 

" Dunkerque, 26th May. 
" I closed my letter yesterday rather hurriedly, before 
going with the official to inspect the Scotch stock. He 
seemed pleased, but as I do not understand French, and 
he and his friends could not speak English, we had not 
much communication. To-day, a young Scotchman, 
who is manager of a flax manufactory belonging to Mr. 
Dickson from Forfarshire, came to take us over a farm, 
. . . and also to show us a beet-root sugar manufactory. 
We had a pleasant walk, and were much pleased with 
the attention shown us. Full explanations were given 
us of the whole process of sugar-making from the be- 
ginning, and we saw them completing the process by 
drying the sugar by centrifugal motion. ... On the 



214 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

farm of the sugar manufacturer there was a large pro- 
portion of beet. . . . His farm contains 210 of our acres, 
for which he pays £500. The average rent of land he 
stated to be 50s. our acre. He gave us a glass of claret 
when we arrived, and another after we had walked 
over his farm. Mr. Dickson's manager acted as our 
interpreter, and we plied him with questions. ... It 
is a week to-day since I left home, and not one word 
have I heard since then ; of course, it is not your fault, 
for who would have thought of me still being only at 
Dunkirk ? but I am satisfied it is best for the stock to 
remain here after the great fatigues of the voyage. . . . 
Tell the children I expect letters from each and all. 
... It seems the people in the town were much pleased 
at us walking in a body to the church. I was rather 
inclined to think they might be offended ; I am glad it 
is otherwise." 

My father writes to his daughter a description of 
Dunkirk. He says : " This town of Dunkirk is an 
old-fashioned place. The streets are all laid out with 
a view to defence if the town should be attacked, and 
they are not straight, but all regularly bent and radiat- 
ing from the centre. There is a great wall round the 
town, and a canal or ditch, and at the gates there are 
drawbridges, where soldiers stand as sentries. They 
shut the gates at ten o'clock, after which it is difficult 
to get into the town, though it is easier to get out, as 
on payment of a little money the soldiers will rise and 
open the gates." 

On the 2 7th of May he did not write his usual letter 
home, being busy all day arranging the stock for tran- 
sit to Paris. At last the business was accomplished, 



MEMOIE OF GEOEGE HOPE. 215 

and he left Dunkirk at half-past nine in the even- 
ing. He writes from the Hotel de Saxe-Coburg, Eue 
St. Honored Paris : " We were on the road all night, 
and got here safely at half-past ten. We found Mr. 
Stevenson busy unloading the cattle, which had arrived 
first, so Mr. H., Mr. S., and I came on here. We 
were put into horrid rooms at first, but on saying they 
would not do, we have got splendid apartments. We 
were dirty and soil-covered, but on reading our pass- 
ports we rose in estimation. ... I am just going off 
to the Louvre Hotel to see if there are any letters 
for me." 

"H6tel de Saxe-Coburg, Eue St. Honore, Paris, 
29th May 1856. 

"I was delighted to find your two letters at the 
Hotel de Louvre, informing me of all your welfare. I 
am obliged to P. for his letter and the news about 
Countess's foal ; and also to C. for her letter and all the 
information in it. When I got the letters, and saw that 
all was apparently well, I came to this house and went 
to my own room, where I read and re-read them, trying 
to extract more out of every line. ... I have simply 
walked through the Exhibition, after getting in all the 
Scotch beasts (which was a great relief to my mind), 
and I am struck with amazement at the splendour of 
the buildings." 

TO HIS SON R. 

" 29 th May. 

" I have got your letter, and it has given me great 

pleasure in this wilderness of people to hear from home, 

and about those so often in my mind. I spent all 

yesterday in the Exhibition. I arranged all the seeds 



216 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

from East Lothian, and also a large hamper of wool, 
which was directed to my care. . . . The palace in 
which the Exhibition is held is an immense building 
with a glass roof. 1 There are large galleries round and 
round. The cattle are under the galleries, and the 
centre is filled with trees and statues and the most 
beautiful flowers. Elags hang from the roof, with the 
name of the country from whence the cattle come. 
Many of the attendants are curious-looking men, but 
the Spaniards are, to my mind, the most comical ; there 
are several of them, and they are all very like the fat 
men in the pictures in Gil Bias. . . . The Danish and 
German cattle are many of them Ayrshires. . . . The 
black polled cattle from Scotland are as good as auy 
lot shown, and the Scotch are very proud of the appear- 
ance they have made. The judges are to fix the 
premiums to-day and to-morrow, so I will write on 
Sunday to P., telling him whether I have got a prize 
or not." 

TO HIS SON p. 

"30/fc May. 

" I am glad to tell you the sheep have gained a prize, 
I believe the third. The Fenton wheat has also got a 
silver medal, and the Sanday oats. Tell Hugh Bertram 
this, and he will tell the men. The collection of grains 
sent from Haddington has got a gold medal ; in fact, it 
is the best collection I see. Although I get into the 
Exhibition, it is not opened until to-morrow. . . ." 

TO MRS. HOPE. 

" 30^ May. 

" Yesterday was a very wet day, and confined me to 
the Exhibition, which, however, I could not well have 
1 Now the Palais de 1' Industrie. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 217 

left in any case. ... I got Wednesday's Scotsman yes- 
terday from Mr. Stevenson ; it was a treat, as I have 
not seen a paper since I left England. . . . We propose 
running down to Marseilles next Thursday, if we can 
all get away. . . . This day pours on of rain as it 
did yesterday. . . . There is nothing here to prevent 
me writing every morning, unless I should some day 
sleep in ; I am busy daily, but am in the best of health. 
Mr. Stevenson, Mr. D., Mr. H., and 1 went to a restau- 
rant and dined together. . . . The strawberries here 
have not the same flavour they have in Scotland, or 
perhaps it was the want of the cream." 

"1st June. 

" After I had come in last night, and was having a 
cup of coffee, Mr. Maxwell called with your letter. I 
thanked him so warmly that I thought afterwards he 
might fancy me sycophantish ; but I was so grateful 
for the letter, and it really was kind of him, as it saved 
me a walk of at least twenty minutes. ... At this 
distance I cannot pretend to say what should be done 
about turnip -sowing ; only say to Hugh to be cautious 
about meddling with the land when it is wet, as the 
horses had better be in the stable and the men in bed. 
When I wrote yesterday it was raining, so there was 
nothing for it but to go again to the Exhibition. The 
Emperor and Empress made their appearance, and 
stayed about two hours. The Emperor is a stout- 
built little fellow, and he struts as he walks. The 
Empress was drawn in a little four-wheeled carriage. 
She is very pale and delicate-looking. ... A Tyrolese 
(the same I thought to be Spaniards in a former letter) 
made a long speech to her, and presented her with a 
cow. The Swiss played on a long wooden trumpet 



218 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

that they use for calling their cattle, and one of the men 
sang or chanted the cattle-call. They also presented 
her with a cow. 

" I was in the Church of the Madeleine yesterday ; 
it is very fine and gorgeous, though the figures in 
black, which I thought were clothes put on pins to 
dry, turned out to be living figures." 

TO HIS DAUGHTER. 

"2d June 1856. 
" As I did not get written to you yesterday, I will 
begin to-day with you first. I showed Mr. H. yesterday 
where there was a Methodist chapel, and he and Mr. C. 
went and heard a sermon in English. I went off to try 
and find Mr. Coquerel's church, but could see nothing 
answering to it. I went then to the Exhibition, and as 
the public were admitted at twelve o'clock, by two the 
large area was completely filled. ... I saw several 
farmers from the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. After 
that Mr. Maxwell and I went with twenty-five of the 
shepherds to the top of the Triumphal Arch, from which 
we had a beautiful view of Paris. . . . The shops here 
were more generally shut yesterday than those in Dun- 
kirk were the Sunday we were there. After dinner I 
got on the top of an omnibus at the Madeleine Church, 
and for three halfpence drove to the Bastile, where 
there is a high pillar, with the names engraved on it of 
those who fell at the taking of the Bastile, when it was 
knocked down and this monument erected. . . . After 
returning I walked down to the Champs Elys^es, where 
there were immense crowds sitting drinking beer and 
coffee, and listening to the music. . . . There were 
merry-go-rounds all crowded with people, mostly grown- 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 219 

up, and some grey-headed, and there were a great many 
stands, with a wooden man turning round quickly, and 
a pipe stuck up as his head, and people at a little 
distance firing an arrow from a crossbow to break 
the pipe. These concerns were mostly managed by 
old men and old women. The Parisians are a curious 
people. . . . 

" I would say Paris is out of sight the finest city I 
have ever seen. There is one thing I miss, and that is 
babies ; I have scarcely seen a child under three or four 
years of age : it is said they are all sent to the country 
to be nursed." 

TO MRS. HOPE. 

" 3d June. 

" Amidst all this bustle and novelty I often sigh for 
home, but as I am here I must just put it away from 
my thoughts. We had to-day rather a long meeting of 
the Highland Society's deputation. . . . You may have 
heard that the Exhibition is not to close so soon as at 
first agreed on, and I cannot well leave ; at least I am 
in doubt what it is best to do. . . . The tickets are not 
yet put on to the prize sheep or any of the beasts. The 
Parisians talk too much and do too little. This delay 
in marking the prize beasts is great injustice to the 
owners of stock, delaying the sales. . . . Some people 
again who have bad beasts, and know they won't get 
a prize, have made sales at most advantageous prices. 
I had resolved to devote this day to exploring Paris, 
but Mr. C, Mr. H., etc., wish me to delay and go all 
together. I was at Eranconi's Circus last night. I 
daresay a fourth of the audience were Scotch or Eng- 
lish ; over the whole house I saw faces I knew." 



220 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

" 5th June. 

« When I came in last night I was truly happy to 
receiveyour letter, as well as C.'s, R's, and P.'s; each and 
all gave me great gratification. I find that wherever my 
body may be, my heart is at Fenton Barns. . . . Yester- 
day Mr. H. and I went with twenty-nine of the Scotch 
shepherds to Versailles. We were all through the 
Palace, and I daresay we saw miles of pictures — mostly 
of battles, which I do not like as a subject. . . . After- 
wards we all went to a restaurant and had dinner and 
a bottle of vin ordinaire each. It was astonishing to 
see our men using table-napkins and eating salad and 
oil, and doing it quite an fait. We all got back in high 
delight with our day's amusement. The two High- 
landers in kilts walked behind Mr. H. and me as body- 
guard, and all the people we saw were most anxious 
to show everything to the 'ficossais.' [Wherever my 
father went when in Paris, he was surprised to find 
that he was followed by two Highlanders. He made 
several attempts to escape from them, but without avail. 
At last he inquired of them what they meant by it, 
upon which they informed him that they were servants 
of Lady Menzies, who had directed them to walk behind 
him, and be ready to do whatever he told them !] 
Yesterday was fine, but the rain came again last night, 
and to-day it is wet. It would take but little to make 
me rise and journey homewards." 

"Uh June. 

" Yesterday I was through a great part of the Louvre, 
if not the whole. I was more than delighted with the 
pictures, many of them being beyond my conception of 
what the brush could do. It rained heavily the whole 
day. . . . From the rising of the waters communica- 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 221 

tion lias been stopped with Marseilles and Bordeaux. I 
am wearying to get home again ; nothing will prevent 
me leaving this on Wednesday at the latest, to be home 
on Thursday night. You may expect me to drive from 
Dunbar that night after the arrival of the express. But 
do not be surprised if you should see me sooner, as all I 
want is a decent excuse to leave. . . . To-day I have 
been at Pere-la- Chaise (with which I was rather dis- 
appointed), and to-morrow I mean to go to several of 
the churches." 

" 7th June. 

" I mentioned that I do not now intend journeying 
further. The rains have been great, and the southern 
railways have been stopped, so that I could not go even 
if I wished. To-day promises to be fine, but come 
what will, I leave this on Wednesday morning. . . . 

" Generally speaking, the Parisians cannot be said to 
be good-looking. The women are generally small, their 
shoulders are square, their heads not well placed, and 
not one of them walks well. I have hitherto failed to 
see the famed grace and elegance of the Parisian dames. 

" Tuesday is the day for giving the prizes, but if any 
change is made delaying them, the instant I hear it I 
start for home with all speed." 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

"Fenton Barns, Drem, 1st Oct. 1856. 
" I wrote you on Sunday last. We were then in high 
health, and I said more than once that though the crops 
would be much spoiled by the weather it did not signify 
as long as we were all well and happy. But it has 
pleased our heavenly Father to try us sorely by taking 
to himself our darling pet, little George. He was quite 



222 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

well on Monday morning when he sat beside me at 
breakfast. When I came in to dinner I found he was 
not very well. ... I was afraid of scarlet fever, but as 
the elder children had all been ill and feverish for a day 
or two, and had then got better, I hoped the same for 
him. But he got gradually worse, and sunk yesterday 
at half-past ten o'clock A.M., after an illness of less than 
twenty-four hours [at the age of three years and one 
month]. He was the light of our house, always so 
merry and so good. I never saw him the least angry, 
and he always did whatever he was asked so willingly 
that I always liked to have him in the room with me. 
I often felt I made an idol of him. . . . We have one 
consolation, that he did not suffer any pain, and died 
without a struggle. . . . We have still many blessings 
left. I pray to be able to say from the heart, ' Not our 
will, but thine be done/ " 

My father's next journey, undertaken in July of the 
following year, was to see the Manchester Exhibition, 
and to visit friends in that neighbourhood. He appears 
to have enjoyed the Exhibition, saying he thought the 
British Portrait- Gallery alone worth going 500 miles to 
see ; but as usual he soon begins to long for home, and 
after being absent for ten days he writes : " I thought 
of my dear wife and bairns, and I felt and feel, if it 
w T as not for pure shame, I would take the first train 
and hurry to them. I know it would be ridiculous, so 
try to be reconciled for the three days and nights ere I 
can see you again." Great as was the pleasure he had 
in seeing the paintings and statuary in the Exhibition, 
he evidently enjoyed still more a Sunday which he 
spent in Liverpool in going three times to church. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 223 

He writes thus of it : "I got to Liverpool at 10.45, 
and was just in time to get to Mr. Martineau's chapel 
as the service commenced. It was a great treat. His 
text was ' The Spirit of God witnessing with our spirits 
that we are the children of God.' ... In the after- 
noon I went to Eenshaw Street Chapel to hear Mr. 
Channing. He bears a striking resemblance to the 
print of his uncle. There was a liturgy, in which the 
congregation joined, but they read too rapidly for my 
taste. Mr. Channing then left the pulpit and stood on 
the floor, and delivered an earnest and beautiful address, 
full of the most striking thoughts, to the children, of 
which a full congregation chiefly consisted. It was 
about the electric wire which is being put on board two 
war-vessels here, one an American, the other a British. 
He said it was 1900 miles in length; that it was to be 
put in the bottom of the sea, some places two miles 
deep, with an average depth of one mile ; that the num- 
ber of wires and coatings would girdle the earth sixteen 
times, and would reach to the moon and half-way back ; 
that messages would be sent to the western wilds and 
prairies in a moment by the spirit of the wire ; that as 
it was being laid a bell was constantly to be rung through 
or by it to show that the communication was perfect. 
If God's bell of love and peace did not ring in our 
breasts, we must go back and make the communication 
perfect. If man could hear man in a moment 1900 
miles off, would not God hear us through his clear sky ? 
etc. etc. etc. . . . After getting a cup of tea we all went 
to hear Mr. Martineau. I went close to the pulpit, 
heard every word, and saw plainly the working of his 
expressive face. Altogether it proved a red-letter day 
to me." 



224 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

From Liverpool he proceeded to Lincolnshire, where 
he had been invited to go to see his landlord Mr. Nisbet 
Hamilton's estate of Alford. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

"Fenton Barns, 19th December 1858. 

" We returned home some weeks ago. We enjoyed 
Edinburgh for a time, particularly as it enabled us to 
see some old friends and to have Mr. Martineau with us 
for three days ; but we were delighted to be again 
domiciled at Fenton Barns. ... I find our town housevery 
convenient for myself ; if it is not the most economi- 
cal way of educating our children, it has its advantages. 

" Do you know I very nearly bought the lease for 
ever of the Murrays near Ormiston ? I could have had 
it to pay fully four per cent., and borrowed the money 
at four per cent. I now rather regret it, as it is a nice 
farm. I would certainly have bought it had it been 
a little nearer, and farmed it myself. I should like to 
put my hands on a sheep-farm, if I could fall in 
reasonably." 

TO THE SAME. 
"Fenton Barns, Drem, 29th July 1860. 

"I am going to the Highland Society's Show at 
Dumfries to-morrow as a judge of Leicester sheep, and 
the judges of the implements wish me to be present on 
Tuesday to tell them my opinion on threshing-machines, 
as one or two of them are new to the business of making 
trials with them. 

"We had Mr. W. H. Channing, the nephew of the 
great doctor, preaching to us lately in Edinburgh. We 
had a full house and a beautiful discourse, and a soiree 
next evening, at which I presided. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 225 

" Is there no chance of your coming to Scotland this 
autumn ? C. and E. came home on Friday. P. goes to 
Edinburgh with them in October. We are all in the 
enjoyment of good health, I am thankful to say." 

In the autumn of this year my father's second 
daughter was attacked by diphtheria in its most virulent 
form. She was the pride and delight of the whole 
household, and very dear to her father's heart. She had 
no chance with the disease, which was then little under- 
stood, and on the 13th September she died, after an 
illness of seven days, at the age of three years and three 
months. The letter in which my father tells his 
brothers of her death has not come into my possession. 
A fortnight after her death, her eldest brother was 
seized by the same malady. The other members of the 
family were then sent out of the house. 

FROM MR. HOPE TO HIS DAUGHTER C. 

"Fenton Barns, 5th October 1860. 
" My OWN dear C, — I hope you got nicely into town 
yesterday. . . . We are still in great anxiety about R. ; 
he is pretty much in the same state as when you left. 
. . . His strength remains, but his sleep has been more 
disturbed last night. We are in the hands of a good 
and wise Father, and we hope the best results. — Ever 
your loving father, George Hope. 

" P.S. — If you have not yet bought H/s horse and 
cart, buy a good one." 

" Saturday morning, 6th October. 

" My own dearest C, — I was very glad last night to 
receive your letter, and to know that you were all well. 

P 



226 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

I am only vexed you did not all leave us sooner, but I 
hope sincerely that the delay has caused no harm. K.'s 
sleep last night was more resting than any he has yet 
had ; there was none of that continued motion of hands 
and feet that was so constant previously, ... so, with 
God's blessing on us, he may yet be restored to health. 
Write to me all you can think about, and do not be 
afraid of wearying me with details. Love to P. and H., 
and give the baby three kisses from me. Your mother 
bears up admirably, but I must try and get her to take 
more rest to-day. — Your loving and affectionate father, 

" George Hope." 

" Sunday morning. 

"My own dearest C, — What can I say to you? 
The light of our house has departed, — the hand I fondly 
hoped would lay my own head in the grave is cold ! It 
is hard to say, ' Thy will be done.' And yet, and yet 
he is happy ; we are the desolate ones. After a hard 
struggle, our dearest boy died at 7.35 last night. We 
thought him rather better in the morning. In the fore- 
noon I doubted this, and he began to sink about one 
o'clock. . . . We must not meet until after all is over. 
P. and H. will come out on the day of the funeral by 
the ten o'clock train, and return by the three o'clock. 
The doctors are very much afraid of infection, and we 
must run no unnecessary risk. I do trust you are all 
keeping well. — Your most affectionate and loving father, 

" George Hope." 

to HIS SON p. 

'* 8th October 1860. 
" My dear son P., — I did not know till now how 
tenderly I loved our dear Kobert, and how much he was 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 227 

entwined around all ray worldly hopes. . . . His memory 
will ever be sweet and pleasant to us. . . . H. and you 
will come out on Thursday by the ten o'clock train. 
Be sure you have your greatcoats on, and take care of 
yourselves. You will return again by the three o'clock 
train, and your mother and I will go either with you or 
immediately after you. It is a great trial to us to be 
absent from you at this time, but it is our duty to take 
every precaution, and we must not think anything pain- 
ful when it is our duty. I hope you will be long spared 
to be a comfort and a blessing to us all, my dear boy. 
— Your loving and affectionate father, 

" George Hope." 



TO HIS DAUGHTER C. 

" Fenton Barns, 9th October. 
" My dearest C, — We were very glad last night on 

receiving a letter from P. and also one from telling 

us you were all in the enjoyment of good health. We 
hope to get a letter from you to-day saying you con- 
tinue well. ... I think I feel to-day more resigned to 
the loss of our dear boy. God has taken him to him- 
self, doubtless for good and wise purposes, which will 
be cleared up to us by and by. Who knows how soon 
we may be called to join him ? His bright spirit has 
gone pure to the arms of our Infinite Father, which 
should make me far happier than if my fondest hopes 
on earth had been realised. God bless and comfort 
you and all of us in this our sore trial. — Your loving 
and affectionate father, George Hope. 

" Kiss baby for me. I long to see you all once more." 



228 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

TO HIS BROTHERS. 

" Fenton Barns, Drem, 
9th Oct. 1860. 

" My dear Brothers, — When I last wrote you my 
heart was sore. Little did I think that my next was to 
be penned with a crushing grief which almost obliterates 
the memory of the first. But so it is. Our heavenly 
Father has seen fit in his wisdom and love to take from 
our keeping into his own infinite and all-loving arms, 
our darling boy Kobert, my eldest son, my hope and 
pride. I did not know before how much he was 
entwined round my heart, and that he was the centre 
of so many bright hopes, and that I had built for him 
so many castles in the air. Alas ! my fond anticipa- 
tions are all in the dust, and I find it hard, hard to say 
unreservedly, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' I 
know my boy is better and happier than I could make 
him ; his pure spirit has gone undefiled to God, but the 
grief at separation is not less strong. On Sunday week, 
the 30th September, he complained of a sore throat. 
... I sent at once for the doctor. ... On Tuesday I 
proposed to send to Edinburgh for advice, but the 
doctor said he was getting better. On the Wednesday 
he was worse, and we telegraphed for Dr. Begbie, who 
gave me little hope. , . . We even thought him better 
on the Saturday morning, but at mid -day he grew much 
worse, and died in the evening at 7.35, at the age of 
thirteen years and eleven months. ... He had such 
a sweet, loving disposition, and was withal so frank and 
manly. It was diphtheria, the same that deprived us 
of our dear sweet Ella. Dr. Begbie said it was so infec- 
tious we should send off the other children, for little 



MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 229 

or nothing could be done with young children. We 
sent the others to Edinburgh, where P. had gone to be 
with E. at the High School. I am glad to say we are 
keeping all well in health. — With love to you and 
yours, I am your affectionate but sorrowing brother, 

" George Hope. 

" Poor E. was very patient in his illness, and made 
a brave fight for his life, taking everything, and saying 
' Thank you ' to the last." 

to his son p. 

" Fenton Barns, 10th October. 
" My dearest Boy, — I have just had a le.tter from 
-, who tells me that Dr. S. is of opinion that it 



would be wrong for you and H. to come to Fenton 
Barns at this time, even for the shortest time. I am 
very sorry for this, but I think it right to act on the 
doctor's advice. You are both very precious to us, and 
I could have no peace if anything happened to either of 
you through my having brought you out against the 
opinion of an eminent medical man. I must just per- 
form the sad duty without the comfort of your and H.'s 
presence. Your mother and I will be with you by the 
last train to-morrow night, when we hope to see you 
all well, which will give some joy to our sad hearts. 
Though we know E. is happier far than he ever was on 
earth, yet we feel very sad. It looks like a contra- 
diction, but so it is. My warmest love to C, H., and 
baby. — Your very affectionate father, 

" George Hope." 



230 MEMOIK OF GEORGE HOPE. 



TO HIS BROTHERS. 

" 4th December 1860. 

" I am very grateful to you for your kind letters of 
sympathy in our great distress. It has indeed been a 
heavy trial to us. I was so proud of my son, and our 
little girl was always so bright and happy that she was 
familiarly known as ' Sunshine/ 

"I have often looked forward, my dear Adam, to 
seeing you once more. I hope nothing will occur to 
prevent your putting your intention to revisit old Scot- 
land in spring into execution. You should bring all 
your family with you : it will be such a pleasure to 
us all." . 



CHAPTER XL 

At a public meeting held in January 1861, on the 
subject of labourers' dwellings, m^ father proposed a 
resolution — " That improved cultivation necessarily 
implies an increase in the amount and quality of the 
labour employed, and that it is the duty and interest of 
both landlords and tenants that a sufficiency of cottage 
accommodation be provided on every farm for the 
labourers so employed." He spoke of the striking 
improvement which had taken place in labourers' cot- 
tages within his recollection. Instead of being four 
bare walls covered with thatch, having a small hole 
twelve or fifteen inches square, with a fixed piece of 
glass, for a window, and a door covered with key-holes, 
made to suit the size of the lock of each successive 
occupant, on many estates they had been rebuilt in a 
commodious and comfortable manner. But much yet 
remained to be done. He sowed his grain and reaped 
it by machines, and threshed it by steam ; yet he had 
abundance of work for the same number of horses and 
men to drive them that he had twenty-five years ago, 
when he had two threshing-machines drawn by horses ; 
and his expense for other labourers had increased since 
then to more than four times the amount. The greater 
amount of labour now applied to land was one thing 
which constituted improved cultivation. The cleaner 



232 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

and richer the soil, the more valuable would be the 
crops it was fitted to produce, and the greater the profit 
to both landlord and tenant. He disapproved of the 
bothy system, and also of labourers living at a distance 
from their employment; no man in Scotland wished 
his labourers to walk some miles to their work any 
more than he would permit his horses to do so. The 
working classes could do far more for themselves than 
could be done for them, but this building of comfort- 
able cottages was a thing they could not do ; it depended 
on the will of the wealthy. He concluded his speech 
as follows : " I would also say, treat your labourers 
with respect as men : encourage their self-respect. 
Never enter a poor man's house any more than a rich 
man's, unless invited, and then go not to find fault, but 
as a friend. If you can render him or his family a 
benefit, by advice or otherwise, let it be more delicately 
done than to your most intimate associate. Eemember 
how hard it is for a poor man to respect himself. He 
hears the wealthy styled the respectable, and the poor 
the lower classes; but never call a man low. He 
derives a divine lineage from our common heavenly 
Father ;, his spirit possesses the same illimitable powers 
of expansion bestowed on the noblest of our race, and 
is of more worth than this whole material universe. 
Indeed, this being a man dwarfs and renders as nothing 
all the distinctions of an earthly estate. Christianity 
tells us mankind are brothers, then let us look on all 
human beings as Christ looked. Even the most de- 
graded may recover and be again clothed and in his 
right mind. I am far from thinking lightly of the 
evils of poverty, and yet the lot that is humblest on 
earth may train spirits for the highest places in heaven. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 233 

A man may be ignorant in the eyes of the world, but 
if his conscience has been awakened, and a divine life 
begun, if he clings resolutely to duty, if he denies 
himself, and submits with filial resignation to God's 
will under the severest trials, though unable to tell the 
various strata of the earth's surface, he may be wiser 
than the geologist, for he can read his own soul, or than 
the astronomer who names the stars, for he sees God 
beyond them." 

The elevation of the working classes (whom he never 
could endure to hear styled " the lower orders," or by 
any similarly contemptuous designation) was an object 
which my father had much at heart. He advocated an 
extension to them of the franchise, partly because he 
believed that the only hope of obtaining a compulsory 
Education Act lay in getting the suffrage extended to 
an uneducated class, and partly because of the educat- 
ing power which he believed the suffrage itself to 
possess, as well as because he considered that the 
possession of the suffrage offers the only security which 
any class or section of the community can have for its 
interests being attended to. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

"4prtf 1861. 

" I always feel grieved when I think of the United 
States. The blood and treasure spilling there will not 
be got the better of for many a day. The North are 
evidently going to win, and it is well they are stirring 
themselves in the affair of Slavery. Wickedness in- 
variably brings punishment, and the States are now 
paying the price of blood." 

My father was an enthusiastic partisan of the North. 



234 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 



TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" Fenton Barns, Deem, 
27th October 1861. 

" We spent ten days at Glencotho [a sheep-farm in 
Peeblesshire of 2000 acres in extent, which he had 
lately purchased] in the beginning of August. We 
enjoyed the hill- country very much, it was such a 
change from this. We fished for trout in the burn, and 
we wandered about the hills, and got to the top of 
Culter Fell, the highest hill in Lanarkshire — 2456 feet. 
Glencotho extends up the side of the Fell to the height 
of about 1800 feet. Our visit took away the remains 
of the hooping-cough which H. and M. had both been 
suffering from. We are all anxious to return in May. 
I was amused myself at the assiduity I displayed in 
catching trout. 

" You will have observed in the papers that I had a 
visit from Dr. Begg, previous to his addressing the 
Haddington Agricultural Club. I think his visit 
modified his ideas as to the actual state, moral and 
physical, of our rural population in this county. The 
meeting I hope will bear fruits by exciting a warmer 
interest in the obtaining of good and comfortable houses 
on every farm. I was pleased to see what an excellent 
Show you have had ; I would have enjoyed being pre- 
sent, but it was impossible for me to leave home for so 
long, and I am somewhat of a coward for a sea- voyage. 
I do hope you will pay a visit to the Old Country in 
1862, to see the Great Exhibition, if for nothing else. 
You should come in the spring, and Charles and his 
family later in the season. I often weary to see you 
both and recall old times." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 235 

" 1st June 1862. 

"I enclose this small note to say we are waiting 
anxiously to hear when we may expect to see you and 
J. here. I purpose going to London on the 1 6th ; that 
is, leaving home on that day. . . . We expect to be at 
Fenton Barns again on the 1st July, and if we do not 
meet in London I shall expect to see you here early 
in July." 

" 24th August 1862. 

" I received your kind letter this morning, and also 
J.'s interesting epistle, which gave us a graphic account 
of all your doings in London, and what you have seen. 
We are glad you have seen so much that you enjoy. 
Eemember the Crystal Palace at Sydenham ; you must 
devote a day to it. 

" We were a very pleasant party at Glencotho : Mr. 
C. Beard, author of Port-Royal, Mr. Howard Blyth, Mr. 
J. Jamieson, and myself — the last three having guns. 
The weather was anything but favourable. We all left 
on Thursday, just as the weather got fine. . . . There 
was no want of birds, but we all shot ill, missing con- 
tinually. What we wanted in game we made up for in 
fun and laughter. . . . We shall be delighted to see J. 
and you whenever you get sufficiently tired of sight- 
seeing in the ' great Wen,' as Cobbett used to call it." 

" 28th October 1862. 

" We were very much pleased at receiving your letter 
from Halifax, letting us know that you had got safely 
across the great ocean, and again your letter from home, 
informing us of your arrival. I have sometimes thought 
it was worth while to go away for a few days to enjoy 
the happy sensation of returning to your own fireside. 



236 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

After your comparatively long absence I can easily 
understand how glad you were to be home again, and 
how rejoiced all were to see you and dear J. I am sure 
both of you will be the better for your visit to the Old 
Country, and the complete change of scene. I know 
your visit here marks an epoch in our domestic history, 
and we frequently speak of you both, though (but it is 
not fair) we sometimes think you stayed too long in 
London, and that altogether your visit was too short. 
However, we will hope and believe that this meeting 
will not be our last in time, but that by and by, if I 
cannot muster courage to cross the sea to you, you will 
both come again. 

" You will have seen by the Scotsman that Mr. Sadler 
got the first steam-plough in the county, and you will 
also have seen an account of its inauguration by a 
luncheon in the Castle garden, given by Mr. Nisbet 
Hamilton, and to which I took Mr. Cobden. His pre- 
sence gave the meeting quite an ecl&t. I dined with 
Mr. Cobden at Mr. Duncan M'Laren's, and asked him to 
come and see me. I was very much pleased to see him 
again, looking much stronger than formerly. He came 
here to breakfast, and returned to Edinburgh by the last 
train. He was most cordially welcomed at Dirleton. 
There were no end of the people wanting to be intro- 
duced, and the cheering at the dinner was most hearty. 
He told me some curious stories in relation to our 
Government and the French Emperor. One about their 
terror at his building 100 flat-bottomed boats at Nantes, 
which turned out to be huge pill-boxes for carrying 
coals on canals. Another story was of new iron plates, 
of such superior quality that no cannon balls would 
pierce them, and which were reserved solely for the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 237 

French. The maker offered him 1000 tons for the 
British Government, and the Emperor should not have 
another till the order was executed. We had a visit 
on Saturday from another Manchester man, Mr. Ivy 
Mackie. He was lately Mayor of Manchester, and he 
was from 1822 to 1826 a mason in Edinburgh, when he 
wrought for 16s. a week. He has now a fine estate in 
Kirkcudbrightshire." 

In the summer of 1863 my father had a good deal of 
trouble in connection with a Haddingtonshire Eoad 
Bill. He was in favour of this Bill in so far as 
it changed the toll system to an assessment, but it 
contained several clauses which he thought required 
amendment. The principal objection which he and 
other members of a committee of the East Lothian 
Agricultural Club had to the Bill, was regarding the 
representation of ratepayers. "This," he writes, "is 
confined to two elected ratepayers from each of the 
four districts into which it is proposed to divide the 
county. We think each parish should elect one repre- 
sentative. This would give twenty-five elected members 
as road trustees, and we do not think this number can 
be reasonably objected to, as there are about a hundred 
landed proprietors, and the latter are to pay less than 
one-fourth of the assessment, while the former class are 
to pay more than three-fourths." My father writes to 
Lord Elcho : " Surely the day has gone past for one 
class to levy and another to pay without voice in the 
matter." He met the County Eoad Committee to 
discuss the subject, but the members of this committee 
stated that they could not agree to any further repre- 
sentation of the tenants. " The landlords," said my 



238 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

father, " seem to consider that tenants have nothing to 
do but pay, for not one of them has been consulted in 
the matter, and it has been with difficulty we have 
even obtained a sight of the proposed measure." 

FKOM MR. HOPE TO HIS DAUGHTER C. 

"Fenton Barns, 3d May 1863. 
" My dear C, — . . . We hope to hear soon of your 
safe arrival in Canada, and that you and all friends with 
you had a good passage, stood the voyage well, and are 
now rejoicing on terra firma. Your mother would tell 
you I was at Glencotho last week. Last Thursday, 
unexpectedly, I had to go to Peebles to elect a Convener 
for the County. Though we lost our man, Mr. W. 
Chambers, we stirred up and astonished the sleepy mag- 
nates, who have been accustomed to have everything 
their own way. Yesterday I learned that I must start 
for London to-morrow, about our Eoad Bill, and I think 
we shall get tolls abolished at last. I hope to get back 
to Fenton Barns by Thursday or Friday, but I may be 
detained considerably longer. This has been quite a 
day of rejoicing with us, as it is dear wee M.'s birthday, 
which I am sure you will not have forgotten. The 
small wardrobe she has got, with all the drawers for her 
dolls' things, has never been out of her hands, except for 
an occasional look at a huge picture-book sent her by 

. But I must not trench on H.'s information. He 

has been busy writing you on his slate, and really a good 
letter he has written ; he is to copy it over on paper, 
and I am to send it with this ; and I see he details all 
this information. Birds' nests finding out is H/s 
favourite employment just now : he discovered two 
nests in the garden to-day — one a robin- redbreast's 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 239 

•with four eggs. Of course M. had to go out imme- 
diately to see the treasure. The crops are all look- 
ing well, and everything thriving, except that we lost 
a fine horse a week ago. ... By the way, when I was 
at Glencotho with H. and P. we had cold wet weather, 
but I had a drive from Mr. D. up the Talla Water. 
Talla Linn and Gameshope Water are very fine, and the 
scenery there is as wild as Glencoe. Give my kindest 
regards to Mr. and Mrs. Y., and ever believe me, my 
dearest C, your loving father, George Hope." 

TO THE SAME. 

"London, 15th May 1863. 
" My own dear C, — You may easily imagine the 
state we were in last Saturday. I had just returned 
from London by the night express, when about mid-day 
I got a telegram from A. L. with the words, ' The Anglo- 
Saxon lost — Hon. J. Young and family and party saved.' 
I despatched T. K. to Edinburgh that he might go to 
the Scotsman office and get all the particulars of what 
was known. We were truly glad when he returned and 
told us that your name, A/s, and Miss J/s were all 
given as amongst the saved. With a grateful heart I 
thank Almighty God for sparing to me my dearest 
daughter. ... I almost" blame myself for allowing you 
to cross the sea only for pleasure. How we long to get 
all the particulars from you of the sad event ! The 
papers have been filled with it ; almost all have had 
leaders, but they merely guess at the cause of the 
catastrophe. I feel most anxious to be home again, 
thinking there must be a letter from you soon. I hope 
to be examined about our Eoad Bill to-day, and to get 
away to-night. If not to-day, I shall have to stay till 



240 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Monday. On Monday last, when I was at home, we 
had callers all day, rejoicing with us at your safety. I 
am overcome yet whenever my mind dwells on it, and 
that is very frequently. — Adieu, my dearest C. Ever 
your loving and affectionate father, George Hope." 

[The Anglo-Saxon was wrecked near Cape Eace, 
Newfoundland, and 238 of the passengers and crew 
perished. This being before the days of the Atlantic 
Cable, the news was telegraphed from Newfoundland 
to Canada and the United States, and thence sent by 
mail to England ; but as no mail whatever left New- 
foundland for a week after the arrival on that island of 
the shipwrecked passengers, it was long before any 
news was received direct from them.] 

TO THE SAME. 

" Fenton Barns, Drem, 28th May. 
" My dearest C, — How we have longed to hear from 
you, and to see again your handwriting, for the last 
week at least, is more than I can tell. When post after 
post came in, and still no letter, my heart began to 
sicken with hope deferred. I came home from London 
a week past yesterday (Wednesday), and I had been 
absent from Edinburgh market for two weeks before 
that, so I had much to do ; yet I felt I could not go to 
the market unless I heard from you. So many people 
were asking for you on Friday last at Haddington, that 
I knew how it would be in Edinburgh ; as it was, I was 
glad to shake hundreds by the hand and say you were 
well. I have written a great many letters, and I think 
there are still over twenty to write, telling the joyful 
news that we had really heard from you. I was so 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 241 

pleased to get Mr. Young's letter, and also to see the 

letter from . Taking all the letters, I am more and 

more thankful for your wonderful escape. . . . How 
thankful we should be that your life has been spared ! 
The loss of property is nothing, and yet you had one or 
two things you will be sorry to have lost, as they never 
can be replaced. . . . — I am ever your loving and 
affectionate father, Geoege Hope." 

TO ME. ADAM HOPE. 

" 28th May 1863. 

" After some days of most anxious waiting, we were 
greatly relieved yesterday morning by letters both from 
C. and Mr. Y. ... It is indeed wonderful that all our 
friends as well as C. were saved, and that they are all 
in such good plight as they profess to be. I have 
written to Mr. Y., asking him if there is anything I can 
do to show my gratitude for C/s preservation. . . . 
There were two little children C. mentions whose father 
and mother were both lost (steerage passengers) that I 
would like to hear more of, and to know if I could do 
anything for them as a thank-offering to God for the 
life of my child. You will, I am sure, supply C. with 
whatever she wants without delay, and I will repay you 
with thanks added. I wish my C. to want for nothing ; 
but if I once had her home again it would be difficult 
to get my consent to any more voyaging." 

TO HIS DAUGHTEE. 

" Fenton Barns, 9th June 1863. 
" My deae C, — Why did you go and put in your 
letter that I was afraid of the sea ? When I was in the 
market on Friday people never ceased asking. me if I 

Q 



242 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

was afraid of the sea. But, joking apart, my dear C, I 
thank God every day — many times a day — for having 
spared you to us, preserving you when so many were 
taken. . . . Yesterday was your mother's birthday, when 
we drank her health in sparkling Burgundy, and we had 
as usual our first early potatoes. . . . Wearying for 
another letter, I am your loving father, 

" George Hope." 

to the same. 

" 8th July 1863. 

" I have just returned from Edinburgh to dine here, 
as it is our wedding-day. It is just a lease, nineteen 
years, I have been telling your mother, that she has 
been here, and we have begun a new one ; but if we are 
spared to see twenty-one years, I think that is the 
proper term, and we shall then be in the new lease. . . . 
I do not know what to say about your returning home : 
of course we are most anxious to see you safe back, but 
when you are there I think it is a pity you should not 
see the country under all its aspects ; but do exactly 
what you prefer yourself. I am delighted to hear you 
are going to see Niagara. When I heard that, I said I 
almost envied you. I would do a good deal to see it. 
— In haste, my dearest C. I am ever your affectionate 
father, George Hope." 

TO THE SAME. 

" 21st October. 

" My dearest C, — It is a week past since I got your 

kind letter ; indeed, we have heard from you since, and 

yet I have never got time to write you a morsel. It 

took all my spare time getting my paper ready for the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 243 

Social Science meeting, which paper you would see in 
full in the North British Agriculturist. Then we had a 

visit of Mr. , and he also met me at Glencotho to 

try and shoot some black game ; but we had no sport, 
the birds were too wild. I selected or draughted the 
ewes, and have now got them home. They are larger 
and better than formerly. We had a large party here 
on Monday to meet Mr. H. Amongst the visitors that 
day to see the steam- cultivator was the Marquis of 
Tweeddale, who, after a most minute inspection, declared 
his satisfaction. I am quite delighted with the steam- 
cultivator, it is so simple and easily managed. We are 
busy sowing wheat and lifting potatoes ; this latter 
operation is more than half done. I am glad you are 
going to see something of the winter in Canada. We 
are all wearying for you back again, but at the same 
time we are glad, for your sake, that you are not on the 
sea in this stormy weather." 

TO THE SAME. 

" nth December 1863. 
"... I went to Edinburgh on Sunday ; it was the 
half-yearly meeting of St. Mark's congregation. I 
stayed all night, and went to Dumfries on the Monday 
to settle a dispute about miscropping. I got back to 
Beattock at night, where I slept, and left by first train 
next morning for Broughton. I walked up to Glencotho 
[five miles] and as far as the Water Head [one and a 
half miles], and saw the stock there, and returned to 
Glencotho before sitting down. I always enjoy a solitary 
visit there, and the complete stillness and seclusion. 
I could scarcely come away. After getting some 
dinner, I walked down to the station, and reached Edin- 



244 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

burgh at eight o'clock. I went to the market yesterday, 
and returned home by the four o'clock train. The first 
news I got was that a boy of seven years old, W. Brown, 
had lost his foot with the steam-plough that afternoon. 
It is very painful to think of, but nobody was to blame 
but the boy himself ; he had been turned out of the 
field in the morning. — With love to all, I am ever your 
affectionate father, George Hope." 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" 8th December 1863. 
" You will see by the Scotsman or the Daily Review 
of last Thursday my address at Aberdeen as President 
of the Scottish Unitarian Association. ... I thought 
I -would try if the papers in Edinburgh would print 
what I said, and I found no objection. Eussel said he 
was always glad to print any heresy I publicly uttered. 
It draws attention to our faith, and it seems to me we 
are always rather inclined to put our candle under a 
bushel. A great many people were speaking to me in 
Haddington market on Friday about my speech, and I 
was surprised they did not see where I differed from 
other people." 

TO THE SAME. 

" I send you a Daily Review that you may see my 
views on Education and a little dispute I had with a 
Mr. Walker. The report is fair on the whole, but Mr. 
Walker said deliberately he would pay for Catholic 
schools, but not for Unitarian ones. I said I was a 
Unitarian, and asked him if he knew anything of our 
body. He said no, and did not wish to know. Then, 
I said, he should never speak about what he did not 
understand." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 245 

FROM MR. HOPE TO HIS DAUGHTER C. 

"Fenton Barns, 24th January 1864. 

"My dearest C, — We had a letter this morning 
from Mr. Y., informing us of his intended visit to 
England next month, and of his having written to you 
about accompanying him. You may be sure we shall 
be delighted to see you once more safely home again. 
. . . Everything here goes on smoothly, and very much 
as usual. Auld Hansel Monday was distinguished for 
gymnastic sports at Dirleton, and it was the last day of 
our curling. The ice is now gone from all the ponds. 
We intend to set the steam -plough to work in a day 
or two on the Brig Shot Lee ; the sheep will finish the 
turnips on it to-morrow. H. won two canaries and a 
cage in a raffle at Haddington on Old Hansel Monday, 
at which he is much pleased. . . . — With my best love 
to all our kith and kin, believe me ever, my dearest C, 
your loving and affectionate father, 

" George Hope." 

to mr. adam hope. 

" 5th April 1864. 

" C. told me she wrote to J. from Dublin last week, 
so you will likely have learnt long before this reaches 
you of the accident to the City of New York at Queens- 
town harbour, to the great alarm of the passengers and 
no little excitement to ourselves, until we had our dear 
daughter once more safely at Eenton Barns. It was 
this day week, about eleven am., when I was startled by 
a telegram from Mr. Y., telling me, ' C. was at Queens- 
town all well. The ship had gone ashore, but no lives 
lost.' We had not heard of C.'s intention to leave 
Montreal at any particular time, and my wife had gone 



246 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

to stay for a few days in Edinburgh, so I went to town 
in the afternoon and learned all that was known by 
telegram regarding the vessel. As we did not know 
how our traveller would journey, whether to Liverpool 
direct, or to Dublin, or to Belfast, and then to Glasgow, 
we came home on Wednesday, when we found letters 
from Mr. Y. and C. I met C. at the Caledonian 
Station at Edinburgh on Thursday, at twenty minutes 
past nine, and we got to Fenton Barns at eleven o'clock. 
You can easily understand how glad we all are to have 
her with us again. I am sure my wife and I are deeply 
sensible of your and H.'s kindness to our child, who 
was so long in your family." 

It was almost impossible for my father even to say 
that the weather was fine without some of his brother- 
farmers thinking that by saying so he would raise the 
rent of land, and blaming him accordingly. At a public 
dinner in Haddington in 1863 he ventured to remark 
that the last harvest had been good in his own neigh- 
bourhood, and thereupon three newspaper attacks were 
made upon him. The North British Agriculturist took 
him to task in a leading article, and a letter comment- 
ing upon his " mischievous speech " appeared in the 
same journal. A correspondent in the Haddingtonshire 
Courier also attacked him. To these onslaughts he 
replied as follows — first, in a letter to the North British 
A gricidturist : — 

" Can Wheat be grown at present prices ? 

" Sir, — In your leader under this heading in the 

Agriculturist of the 23d, you notice the remarks I 

made at the dinner in Haddington of the East Lothian 

Agricultural Society. I am confident that if you had 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 247 

been present, and had seen the way I was called on to 
speak, you would not have drawn the inferences you 
have done from my short speech. At these social 
meetings it is not permissible to discourse on topics 
regarding which there is a diversity of opinion. How- 
ever, on the present occasion, the chairman (the Earl of 
Haddington) stated that he did not think the present 
year, or the one or two preceding, had been favourable 
for the agricultural interest, and he referred to the 
propriety of considering whether a change in rotation 
was desirable, as he did not think we could compete 
with foreigners in growing wheat. His Lordship not 
only publicly invited discussion, but privately he asked 
me what I thought of what he had said, and then he 
insisted on my rising and stating my opinion to the 
meeting. I did not consider Free-trade on its trial in 
the least. I never dreamt of defending its justice and 
policy. It is an accomplished fact, and its benefit to 
the whole community, farmers included, I conceive to 
be so obvious as to require no defence. What I said 
applied to the results of the last harvest in this county, 
nay, strictly limited to my own neighbourhood. Still 
your correspondent, 'Clay Land,' styles my speech as 
s absurd, uncalled for, mischievous, and cruel.' How 
my stating the fact that the crops in this quarter were 
extraordinarily large can merit such epithets is to me 
incomprehensible. I repeat that crop 1863, in my own 
neighbourhood at least, was abundant, and that my 
own crops are all greater than I usually grow, and my 
wheat and oats exceed anything I ever grew before." 

To the letter in the Haddingtonshire Courier, which 
was headed " Mr. Hope as an Arable Farmer," my 



248 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

father replied : " In the last Courier there is a letter 
signed ' A Member of the Agricultural Society,' taking 
me to task for my conduct and remarks at the late 
dinner of the Society. I am stated to have ' interrupted 
the usual course of affairs to contradict, if not to snub, 
the chairman.' I am certain that this view of the 
matter never occurred to any person present at the 
dinner. The way I came to speak at all was this : 
Sitting near the chairman, I remarked to him that 
although crops 1861 and 1862 had been most disastrous 
to farmers, I thought that crop 1863 would prove much 
better, as it was the largest grain crop I had ever grown. 
The chairman insisted on my rising and saying so, and 
pointing out wherein I differed from him. At first I 
refused to do this, but he pressed it so much that I felt 
it would be a want of courtesy were I doggedly to keep 
my seat. I spoke only of the crops grown in my own 
neighbourhood, and how this should be ' intolerable to 
nine-tenths of the farmers of arable land in Scotland ' I 
am at a loss to see. Again, I am told, ' he has no right 
to speak for the whole body of farmers in the way he 
has done,' the fact being that I never spoke for them 
at all. ... If any farmer in this neighbourhood is 
unable to pay his rent from this year's crop, it is clear 
that his rent must be too high or his farm badly 
managed. — I am, etc., George Hope." 

At the meeting of the Social Science Association in 
Edinburgh in 1863, my father read a paper " On the 
Conditions of Agricultural Success." It was not his 
intention at present, he said, to prove that knowledge, 
capital, and energy were as necessary in farming as in 
other professions, but there were obstacles to success in 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 249 

farming peculiar to it, and he wished rather to bring 
under the notice of the Association some of the custom- 
ary conditions and laws with regard to the holding of 
land by tenant-farmers, which appear unjust in them- 
selves, or which tend to prevent the investment of 
capital in the soil. A large proportion of the soil of 
Great Britain belonged to wealthy individuals, who let 
the same to tenant-farmers. The latter furnished the 
floating capital for stocking and cropping the land, and 
they expected, as the result of the skill, industry, and 
capital employed, to obtain a suitable remuneration for 
themselves, after paying the rent agreed on. 

" It might be regarded as a truth in agriculture, that 
a certain security of tenure was necessary to induce 
farmers to develop the full capabilities of land, and yet, 
over a great part of England, land was occupied by 
tenants- at-will, liable at any moment to receive notice 
to quit at the caprice of the landlord. Instances might 
be found, even there, of good and successful farming, 
but as a rule it was inferior, under such circumstances, 
to what it was in districts where leases prevailed for 
nineteen or twenty- one years. Instances were not 
wanting where tenants who had ventured to improve 
their land had had their rents at once raised, while the 
sluggard continued to pay the same rent as formerly. 
In some parts of England tenants were paid for unex- 
hausted improvements, and it appeared to him that 
such agreements, joined to leases with fixed terms of 
years, would be not more than an enlightened view of 
self-interest would prompt landlords to grant. In too 
many cases leases were filled with restrictive, absurd, 
and unworkable clauses, but the greatest defect of leases 
common in Scotland was the want of some agreement 



250 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

by which tenants might be paid for improvements 
effected by them, and more particularly for the value 
of unexhausted manures purchased near the termination 
of the lease. As the law stood, whatever improvements 
a tenant might effect became the property of the land- 
lord. With regard to buildings which a tenant had 
erected, some even asserted that he had not only no 
claim for compensation at the close of his lease, but was 
even bound to leave them in good repair. It would be 
unfair to compel landlords to purchase every building 
a tenant chose to erect, but it was only justice to allow 
the latter to remove any building he had himself erected, 
and which the landlord declined to purchase. It would 
be easy to appoint competent persons to estimate the 
state of the farm, and from the terms of the report 
made by them, payment would be made by the landlord 
to the tenant, or by the tenant to the landlord, as the 
farm was improved or deteriorated. My father then 
referred to the landlord's right of hypothec, the law 
which, in the case of the bankruptcy of a tenant-farmer, 
enabled his landlord's claims to be satisfied in full before 
his other creditors received a farthing. This law, he 
said, caused carelessness in the selection of tenants, 
while at the same time it had an undue effect in raising 
rents. Men of capital were proverbially cautious, 
while recklessness characterised those who traded on 
the capital of others. There had lately been some 
extraordinary revelations as to this matter before the 
district Bankruptcy Courts in Scotland. Men had 
taken large farms without a shilling of capital, and had 
failed in a short time for debts, in some cases exceed- 
ing £10,000. The landlords, however, lost nothing, 
they obtained their rents, and had their lands returned 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 251 

to them improved at the expense of the creditors of the 
tenant. After referring to the Game Laws, my father 
spoke of remedies for the evils he had mentioned, by 
means of alterations in the laws ; but, he said, one 
could not compel owners of property to make only 
such agreements as were just and reasonable ; all he 
contended for was that the law should not encourage 
them in retaining, for example, the right of eating their 
tenants' crops with animals, wild or tame. The evils 
he had alluded to would vanish were occupiers generally 
the owners of the property they cultivated ; but this 
could not be the case to any extent for a long time to 
come. By means of the entail laws and the right of 
primogeniture, large masses of property had been thrown 
together in the hands of single individuals. Amongst 
the many important measures carried through Parlia- 
ment by the late Lord Advocate Eutherfurd, none was 
likely to prove more beneficial to posterity than the 
Act which practically abolished entails in Scotland, 
though we had still a few years to wait before even the 
earlier fruits of it began to ripen. But the right of 
primogeniture remained in full force : if a man died 
intestate, and left a landed estate, his eldest son suc- 
ceeded to the whole ; but if the property consisted of 
money or moveables, it was divided equally amongst 
all his children. He could not see what there was in 
land which should make its destination different from 
money. A man need not be prevented leaving the bulk 
of his property to one child, and leaving the others next 
to beggary if he saw fit, but certainly the law should 
not aid him in this nor do it for him. That this un- 
natural act was so frequently perpetrated must in some 
measure arise from the feeling that by doing otherwise 



252 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

the eldest son was deprived of his legal rights. In 
speaking of another mode by which men's vanity might 
be gratified by having their names carried down to 
future ages, namely, by leaving their properties to found 
charities, my father condemned all permanent charities, 
on the grounds that they both " bred recipients, and 
freed future generations from duties which it would be 
beneficial for them to discharge. If the right of primo- 
geniture were abolished, landed estates would in time 
be reduced to comparatively moderate dimensions, to 
the great benefit of agriculture and of the general 
prosperity of the country." 

There was no law which my father regarded with 
greater horror than that of Primogeniture. He held 
that a man ought to leave his children " share and share 
alike" of his property, whatever it might consist of, and 
he considered it monstrous and unnatural that any one 
should leave more to one child than to another, merely 
on account of a difference in age or sex. 



CHAPTEE XII. 



Poor tenant bodies, scant o' cash, 
How they maun thole a factor's snash ; 
He '11 stamp an' threaten, curse an' swear, 
He '11 apprehend them, poind their gear ; 
While they maun stan', wi' aspect humble, 
An' hear it a', an' fear an' tremble. — Burns. 



TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" Fenton Barns, 22d Jan. 1865. 
" I have had more than enough to do in regard to 
the inquiry into the Hypothec Law. It takes me into 
town three days weekly, and I do not see any prospect 
of its coming to a close. It is a serious drain on my 
time. Last week I had three days' sitting on the Com- 
mission. On Wednesday we had the meeting of the 
Highland Society and the Inauguration of the Chamber 
of Agriculture and Scottish Farmers' Club. I have 
posted the Scotsman of Thursday last, that you and 
Charles may see my address as President. It is a great 
honour to be first President. Our meeting was certainly 
most successful. On Friday I was in the witness-box 
for 3|^ hours, in the jury trial Miller v. Hunter of 
Thurston, as to the value of 100 acres of potatoes 
which the tenant, Miller, was prevented taking. It is 
the case I was engaged in some years ago." 



254 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

My father has given the following account of the 
commencement of the agitation for the abolition of the 
law of Hypothec : — 

"On the 1st of June 1864 the case of Barns v. 
Allan, now known as the celebrated Ayrshire Oatmeal 
Case, was finally decided in the Court of Session. By 
this decision the law [of Hypothec] was carried out to 
its full length, and its injustice and absurdity were 
thus more exposed than by any argument. The de- 
fenders, AllaD and Co., bought in the streets of Ayr a 
quantity of oatmeal which turned out to have been 
made from oats grown on a farm the rent of which 
had not been paid for the year these oats were grown. 
The defenders were found liable to repeat the price to 
the landlord, in order to pay such rent, with all the 
expenses of two jury trials. When this decision be- 
came known, public meetings were held throughout 
the country, which were largely attended by farmers, 
and particularly by those who either bought from or 
sold to them. ... It is an interesting fact that at that 
time very few farmers asked for the total abolition of 
the law, almost all contending only for its modification. 
. . . The agitation was so great and so general that the 
Government was induced to appoint a Eoyal Commis- 
sion to inquire into and report on the working of the 
law. The Commissioners sat in Edinburgh from 12th 
December 1864to22d March 1865, and examined 121 
witnesses, from all the classes interested. The evidence 
taken showed that hypothec was not required on well- 
managed properties ; that there were cases, in one or 
two counties, of estates recklessly let to the highest 
bidders, on which almost every tenant was in a state 
of bankruptcy, and that similar instances with like 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 255 

results were constantly occurring throughout Scot- 
land." 1 

Previous to the sitting of this Commission, my father 
had been inclined to think that a modification of the 
law of Hypothec would be sufficient ; but such were 
the revelations made, concerning its working, by the 
witnesses who were examined by the Commissioners, 
that he became convinced of the necessity for its total 
abolition. 2 The Commissioners reported unanimously 
in favour of the amendment of the law, so far as 
regarded the following of crops into the hands of pur- 
chasers. Two members of the Commission dissented 
from the report, on the ground that a larger change 
than any suggested therein might be made with advan- 
tage to the agricultural interests of the country. The 
two practical farmers on the Commission, my father 
and Mr. Curror, also dissented ; and in a statement 
appended by them to the report, they pointed out their 
principal objections to the law, which, they considered, 
conferred an amount of preference in favour of land- 
lords, which was in itself manifestly unjust. They 
stated that they were convinced that the total abolition 
of the law was imperatively demanded both by justice 
and expediency. 

Several of the witnesses in favour of the law, who 
were examined by the Commissioners, declared that 
to abolish it would restrict the landlords' choice of 
tenants, and would do away with what they called " a 
healthy competition for land;" they declared also that 
the law enabled landlords to let their farms at a higher 

1 " Hindrances to Agriculture," by George Hope; in Recess Studies, 
edited by Sir Alex. Grant. 

2 See Appendix, p. 382. 



256 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

rent, to tenants of inferior capital and credit, without 
risk to themselves. All this was stated chiefly by 
lawyers who were agents for estates, without their 
apparently being conscious that their arguments were 
at all unfair to tenants with capital. Towards the 
close of the inquiry, the witnesses in favour of the 
law became more cautious, some declaring it had no 
such effect. 

In speaking on the law of Hypothec, my father says : 
" — " The deficiency of capital amongst tenant-farmers is 
a universal complaint. It cannot be said that there is 
any want of capital in this country for any purpose 
which proves a fair return for the investment, and it 
cannot be said that farming is an unattractive pursuit. 
Then what is it that prevents the full flow of capital to 
the cultivation of the soil ? I reply, it is the terms on 
which it is generally leased, and the laws of the land 
regulating the connection of landlord and tenant, and 
particularly the facilities enacted by law for securing 
payment of rent, which encourages the acceptance of 
tenants who at least promise to pay the highest rent. 
It is well known that cases have occurred of farmers 
purchasing large quantities of cattle and sheep which 
had not been on the ground a week, and were still un- 
paid for, when the sequestration took place, and thus 
the landlord was enabled to secure the whole of his 
arrears of rent, while the original owners did not 
receive a penny. Some persons might be wicked 
enough to suggest collusion betwixt the landlords and 
tenants in such cases, or to call them legal swindles, 
but doubtless such things are quite according to law. 
Seed merchants and manure merchants, without whose 
aid crops would be small enough, know to their cost 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 257 

the miserable dividends that invariably accrue from 
the estate of a bankrupt farmer." 

Some persons believed, or said they believed, that the 
law of Hypothec was beneficial to small tenants, and 
candidates for Parliamentary honours have before now 
been known to become quite pathetic while dilating on 
the advantages which that " worthy and industrious 
class " derived from that law. My father always held 
it to be " a pure delusion, that the law is of the least 
benefit to small tenants ;" in fact he believed it rather 
to be a means by which they were lured to their ruin. 
He says : " For one agricultural labourer or foreman 
who has at once begun farming on his own account, and 
has succeeded, at least a dozen have failed. Many of 
these men, however, go to towns and commence trading 
in a small way ; and without any special law for their 
assistance — with only a fair field and no favour — not a 
few have succeeded in becoming extensive and wealthy 
shopkeepers. Some of them, after realising a com- 
petency, have returned to the country and taken 
farms." 1 

On a Bill being passed which compelled the regis- 
tration of agricultural sequestrations, the doctrine that 
the law of Hypothec was beneficial to small tenants 
was speedily proved to be very far from the truth, for 
out of 724 agricultural sequestrations, which took place 
in about a year and a half, no less than 528 were for 
rents not exceeding £100. 

The working of the law was as follows : A man with 
insufficient capital took a farm which (tenants receiv- 
ing no compensation for unexhausted improvements) 
had been allowed by the former tenant at the end of his 

1 " Hindrances to Agriculture." 
R 



258 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

lease to get into a state of manurial deficiency, and 
otherwise of low cultivation. The new tenant invested 
in this farm his own capital as well as the capital of 
his creditors. The first crops being unproductive — for 
it takes a number of years to restore land to its lost 
condition, — the tenant is unable to continue paying the 
high rent at which he took the farm. Although the 
law is now abolished, this phase of its working is not 
yet in the past. The tenant becomes bankrupt, and 
his lease therefore becomes void. His landlord (in the 
improvement of whose property his own and his credi- 
tors' capital have disappeared) "gets his rent in full, 
his farm returned to him much improved in value, and, 
over and above, property worth a large sum in the 
name of damages ; while the other creditors of the 
tenant have to be contented with a small dividend." 

Such was the law which was said to " enable land- 
lords to help poor but industrious tenants to tide over 
their difficulties." 

My father writes : " The knowledge that they are 
exposed to the undue competition created by the law 
of Hypothec causes many tenants to exhibit political 
subserviency, and still more frequently to agree to 
terms and conditions, styled the rules of the estate, by 
which they place themselves entirely at the mercy of 
their landlords," 1 — for the tenants without capital, who 
undertook to pay almost any amount of rent, would 
also sign leases containing any conditions which the 
landlord chose to insert. This rendered it nearly im- 
possible for any one to get a farm without agreeing to 
conditions which were usually objectionable, and often 
degrading; and agriculture has thus been driven to 

1 "Hindrances to Agriculture." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 259 

a great extent into the hands of a class of men who 
are ready to vote contrary to their convictions if it 
seems to them for their pecuniary interest to do so, or 
so devoid of any convictions at all as to vote with their 
landlords as a matter of course. A Bill for the aboli- 
tion of Hypothec, not applicable to existing leases, 
was, on the eve of the dissolution of Parliament, in the 
present year of 1880, passed by a Tory Government, a 
majority of the members of which had in the previous 
year voted against its abolition. " Tory candidates," 
said Mr. Gladstone, 1 " have had to consent to the aboli- 
tion of Hypothec as a condition of having so much as 
a chance of a seat for a Scotch county ; 2 and the 
Government, not willing to dispense with the services 
of these gentlemen, wish to give them the best chance 
they can by now, in this hurried manner, in such haste 
that it is impossible to know what they are about, 
altering the law of Hypothec. The Bill is hurried on 
from day to day, and it is impossible to know what its 
exact effect will be." 

Thirty years ago Mr. Cobden said of the farmers 
that they were " the only body of men in England who 
dare not stir without the bidding of their masters, even 
in self-defence," and that they appeared to him "to 
want the spirit and intelligence to save themselves 
from ruin." Perhaps these remarks are more applicable 
to England than to Scotland, but in the latter country 
sixteen years elapsed before the abolition of the law 
after the time when (from evidence given before the 
Eoyal Commissioners) the eyes of farmers were opened 
to its injustice ; and, as the Bill for its abolition does 

1 Speech delivered at Ratho, 18th March 1880. 

2 East Lothian is the only exception to this rule. 



260 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

not apply to existing leases, many more years must 
pass before the evil effects of the law cease to be felt. 
Probably reforms might be achieved with greater speed 
were farmers to cease from hugging their chains by 
returning their landlords to represent them in Parlia- 
ment. " If tenants want justice done to them," said 
my father, 1 "they must send members to Parliament 
who practically understand the interests and require- 
ments of agriculture, and not merely to represent the 
unjust privileges claimed and possessed by landowners." 

1 Speech delivered at a meeting of the Scottish Chamber of 
Agriculture in July 1875. 



CHAPTEK XIII. 

The pocket burgh of a clan. — Punch. 

Since the failure of Sir David Baird's candidature in 
1847, Lord Elcho had been permitted to retain his seat 
for East Lothian uncontested, for any attempt again to 
wrest the county from the hands of the Tories had 
been deemed hopeless. Lord Elcho at this time called 
himself " an Independent Liberal- Conservative," a thing 
which has been defined as " a man who, as a candidate, 
promises in guarded language to support a Conservative 
Government in doing what a Conservative Government 
will never attempt, who makes his creed as nearly 
Liberal as he decently can, and then when he is pressed, 
says he will vote independently, which always means 
that he will vote Tory." 

In the beginning of July 1865 Lord Elcho wrote my 
father a letter, which he afterwards admitted to have 
been a trap. In this letter he says : " I want to con- 
sult you on a matter connected with the coming election. 
It unfortunately takes place at the same time as our 
Wimbledon Meeting. I would gladly have spent the 
time between the election and the dissolution in the 
county, and visited my friends and supporters. This 
you see I cannot do, but I want to know whether you 
think it would be necessary for me to appear in the 



262 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

market before the election ? The last thing I would 
wish to do would be to treat, or to appear to treat, my 
constituents cavalierly ; but, if possible, I would gladly 
remain here, where I am wanted, unless you and my 
other friends think I ought to put in a prior appearance 
at Haddington." 

Could any one perceive from this letter that it was 
addressed to one whom the writer knew to be a 
political opponent ? Do people usually ask advice con- 
cerning election matters from their political opponents, 
and, in doing so, use such expressions as " you and my 
other friends " ? But Lord Elcho had his own reasons 
for assuming this unwarrantable appearance of friendli- 
ness, and those reasons he afterwards stated upon the 
hustings. He had heard, he said, that if there was any 
opposition to him, it would be in the person of Mr. 
Hope ; he therefore wrote to Mr. Hope, asking him to 
tell him the state of feeling in the county in regard to 
his not coming down, and he felt that if Mr. Hope 
wrote to him and stated nothing about standing for the 
county himself, he (Mr. Hope) would not be free after- 
wards to oppose him. Into this trap my father fell 
without a struggle, it never occurring to him that, 
although Lord Elcho's letter was written ostensibly to 
ask his opinion of the feeling of the county, it was 
written in reality for a very different purpose ; so he 
answered it in perfect good faith, saying, what was the 
simple truth, that, so far as he knew, there would be 
no opposition, but that some people were expressing 
strong opinions in consequence of his Lordship not 
coming down. At the same time he reminded Lord 
Elcho that he must not look upon him as a friend or 
supporter. 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 263 

On the day before the nomination my father was 
requested, by a number of friends, to stand for the 
county ; it was, in fact, only on that day that he for 
the first time heard that he was to be requested to 
stand. He gives the following account of the matter : 
" On Friday morning, in coming to the market, some 
of my friends said to me they wished me to stand for 
the county. I said, ' Certainly not ; I would not do.' I 
was then told there was to be a meeting at the George 
Inn, at two o'clock, and I went to the meeting for the 
express purpose of putting a stop to the proceedings. 
They insisted, however, and said that I could not refuse 
a requisition from them. I did not believe at that 
time that fifty names would be appended to any requi- 
sition to me in this county. In deference to their very 
strong wish, I said I would meet them [on the next 
day] at eleven o'clock, and that if they could then give 
me such a requisition as I could stand upon, it would 
alter the case. To make sure of my making no mistake 
in the matter, I asked two of my personal friends, who 
had asked me to stand, to go with me, and see if the 
requisition was sufficient to justify me in coming for- 
ward. I wanted to put myself in their hands, and not 
to appear discourteous to those gentlemen who wished 
to pay me the highest honour in their power." 

Before going to Haddington next morning, and while 
it was yet undecided whether he would stand or not, 
my father wrote a note to Lord Elcho, which he sent 
off to his Lordship, who was by this time in the county. 
The note was as follows : — 

"My Lord, — After our recent correspondence, you 
must feel somewhat surprised at the probability of my 
name being brought forward to-day at the hustings in 



264 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

opposition to your Lordship. I only learned yesterday, 
when in the market, that the feeling was so strong 
on* the subject, or I would have communicated with 
you sooner. Nothing could be further from my thoughts 
than the idea of taking any advantage of your absence. 
I do not even know at present if there is any occasion 
for sending you this note, but I should like you dis- 
tinctly to understand that I have made no movement 
in the matter." 

My father was much astonished, on going to the 
meeting at Haddington, to see such a large number 
of supporters, and to find the requisition to him so 
numerously signed. "I could not doubt then," he 
says, " that it was my duty to come forward on this 
occasion." He therefore stated his willingness to 
comply with the request of the requisition. 

Lord Elcho endeavoured to make political capital 
out of having, as he called it, been " taken by surprise ; " 
the fact being that, so far from having been taken by 
surprise, he and his agents had been aware that my 
father would be brought forward in opposition to him 
for some time before my father was aware of it himself. 

On Saturday, the 15th of July, the nomination took 
place in Haddington, from the hustings erected near 
the Corn Exchange. 

Sir David Baird, in proposing Lord Elcho, said he 
was one of the brightest ornaments of the House of 
Commons, and spoke of the opposition to him as 
" underhand proceedings." In reply to this allegation, 
Mr. Erodie, my father's proposer, stated that he had 
told Lord Elcho's agents, days before, that opposition 
was coming. Lord Elcho, in alluding to the matter, 
said that, " in love, in politics, and in war, everything 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 265 

was said to be fair." He then called the opposition to 
him " a night attack," and contrived to imply that he 
disbelieved my father's statement that he had had no 
idea of standing for the county until the previous day. 
Speaking of Keform, he said he was in favour of 
government by what was called the aristocracy. Most 
men in the crowd, said his Lordship, knew that this 
word aristocracy was derived from the Greek word 
aristos, which meant the best. Now he was for the 
government of the best; the best of all classes, the 
upper, middle, and working classes. He then expressed 
his unwillingness to extend the suffrage to the latter. 
He spoke of the Game Laws, his opinions regarding 
which appeared to have undergone some alteration 
within the last few days. He waxed eloquent regard- 
ing tolls, saying they were " a restriction upon inter- 
course between man and man." The strength of 
England, he said, arose from " our great national 
Volunteer movement." This it was which " enabled 
England to defy the proudest potentates of Europe," 
and to encourage the movement in his native county 
he had given a Cup. (A voice, — "It was a copper 
one.") Lord Elcho, " True, it was an electro model, 
but it was only given till the other was manufactured." 
(Another voice, — " The silver cup was forced from 
you.") Lord Elcho protested that this was not the 
case, and went on to speak of the Elcho Challenge 
Shield. 

My father next addressed the assemblage. He gave 
an account of the circumstances under which he had 
been induced to come forward as a candidate for the 
county, and said that as to the night attack, he knew 
nothing about it. Having been taken so suddenly 



266 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

into the contest, he was unprepared to make a long 
address, but he wished to say that he thought the law 
of Hypothec was at the root of all the evils with which 
farmers had to contend. As long as it remained it 
was impossible for a tenant to make a fair bargain with 
his landlord. He then stated his views on the Game 
question and on general politics. 

At the conclusion of my father's speech Lord Elcho 
said : " Mr. Hope is mistaken in supposing rabbits to 
be game. Eabbits are not in the Game Laws. Let 
that go clearly forth." 

My father, in reply to this, said that some years ago 
a shepherd of his had fired a ball at a rabbit, and had 
been fined 30s. 

The Sheriff called for a show of hands, and declared 
the majority to be in favour of my father. He then 
stated that the poll would take place at Haddington 
and Dunbar, on Tuesday, the 18th July, and that the 
declaration of the poll would be made on Wednesday. 

The Scotsman alluded to the East Lothian election 
in the following terms : — " An unhappy, mistimed, and 
especially misplaced contest has arisen for the represen- 
tation of East Lothian. It is not a contest between 
Tory and Liberal, but between landlord and tenant, 
with game-preserving and the law of Hypothec as the 
bones of contention." In an agricultural constituency 
those questions naturally came to the front, but they 
were very far from being the only questions on which 
the two candidates differed ; and even if they had been 
so, it is surely possible to be as liberal or as conservative 
on those points as on any other political questions. 

My father took no part in the election proceedings, 
beyond, on the Monday after the nomination, making 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 267 

short speeches at Tranent and Prestonpans. He did 
not consider it the business of a candidate to canvass 
for votes. If people would not, as they ought, vote 
without being canvassed, he considered that it was for 
those electors who wished a certain candidate to repre- 
sent them, to canvass, or to take any other fair means 
which they thought necessary to insure his return. 

My father's landlord, Mr. Nisbet Hamilton, came to 
the county with headlong speed and in violent wrath, 
when he heard of the nomination of his tenant. It is 
said that he got out of his carriage for the purpose of 
tearing my father's election address off a wall, and that 
he then trampled it under foot with every demonstra- 
tion of rage. He regarded it as a piece of presumption 
on the part of a tenant-farmer (who, he said, "might 
be able to grow turnips and potatoes ") to permit him- 
self to be brought forward as candidate to represent a 
county in Parliament, for in his eyes a tenant-farmer 
was 

" A creature of another kind, 
Some coarser substance unrefined, 
Placed for his lordly use, thus far, thus vile below." 

On Tuesday, the 18th July, the polling took place, 
when there voted for Lord Elcho 285, and for my 
father 159, which gave Lord Elcho a majority of 126. 
On the following day the official declaration of the 
poll was made from the hustings at Haddington by 
the Sheriff. 

Lord Elcho, who was received with cheers, groans, 
and hisses, spoke as follows : — " . . . About ten days or 
a fortnight ago, at a meeting of the Haddington Agri- 
cultural Club, Mr. Sadler said that if Lord Elcho did not 
do certain things his shoes would be filled by another 



268 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

man, and that the coming man was Mr. George Hope of 
Fenton Barns. Gentlemen, the coming man has come 
and gone, and, thanks to your kindness and support, 
Lord Elcho's shoes are still filled by his own feet. 
(Hisses.) Gentlemen, I think I may congratulate my 
friends upon this result. It was, as I ventured to say, 
a night attack, but we were not found wholly unprepared. 
Every one of my friends heartily and zealously did his 
duty. (A Voice, — " How muckle did it cost you ?") 
There was no confusion, and the forlorn hope of the 
enemy has been hurled into the trenches. . . . The 
only man who has spoken disparagingly of me is 
my opponent's proposer. I think the gentleman to 
whom I am referring must have served in the militia. 
I say that the proposer of my late opponent, I cannot 
help thinking, has been in the militia (hisses and cheers), 
because from the way he took off his hat just now he 
certainly makes a very excellent fugleman. 1 would 
like to say about the proposer of my opponent, that had 
he lived at the time of the Israelites in Egypt, he would, 
I am confident, have found no difficulty in making 
bricks without straw, because he has an extraordinary 
facility, in his speeches, of making them without facts." 

This remark was in allusion to Mr. Brodie's trade, 
which was that of a brickmaker. 

Lord Elcho continued — " If my late opponent had 
been returned to Parliament he would have been found 
sitting with Mr. Duncan M'Laren. (Uproar, cheers, 
and hisses.) I say, if my opponent had been returned, 
he would have been found sitting with Mr. Duncan 
M'Laren on his right hand, and John Bright on his 
left. (Loud groans, hooting, yelling, and cheers.) I 
can conceive of no greater triumph to John Bright, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 269 

Duncan M'Laren, and Co., and the Eadicals of Edin- 
burgh, than to have succeeded in turning out the present 
member for this county, and putting in his place the 
friend of the right-hand man of Mr. Duncan M'Laren. 
(Eenewed interruption and groans.) All I can say is, 
that I sympathise heartily with, and condole with, the 
Eadicals of Edinburgh, on the melancholy circumstance 
that their triumvirate is as yet incomplete. Now, 
gentlemen, on what grounds have I been opposed ? I 
have been opposed, nominally, on the grounds of the 
Game Laws and of the Law of Hypothec." Lord Elcho 
then tried to make out that the only difference between 
his opponent and himself on the Game question was, 
that his opponent wished to do away with the licence 
to kill hares and rabbits, while he wished to retain it. 
" If you take away this licence," he said, "all you gentle- 
men will be free to shoot ; and I wish Mr. Hope joy 
of the pleasant visits he would receive from his friends 
here below the hustings, because, gentlemen, I think he 
would scarcely dare, if you go even into his garden in 
search of a hare, and tread down his strawberry-beds, 
which have enabled him to give such pleasant straw- 
berry-feasts, — I say, were you to go into his very garden 
in search of hares and rabbits, and tread down his very 
strawberry-beds " — (a voice, — " Hoots, man, we know 
better than that," and cries of " Shame") — " he would 
hardly venture to have you taken up for trespass." 

My father was as much at a loss as any one else to 
understand what could be meant by this repeated allu- 
sion to strawberries, but he afterwards recollected that 
he had bought, at a shop in Haddington, a quantity of 
strawberries, partly for preserving, and partly for giving 
a " strawberry-feast " to the children of his ploughmen. 



270 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

The owner of the shop was the tenant of a market- 
garden on the Gosford estate (the property of the Earl 
of Weniyss, Lord Elcho's father), and he was said to 
have informed Lord Elcho, or his agents, of my father's 
purchase. It probably appeared to them an extraordi- 
nary circumstance that a tenant-farmer should buy 
strawberries, for they could find no other way of account- 
ing for it than that of supposing that he had, when 
making the unheard-of purchase, cherished the design 
of becoming a candidate for the county, and had since 
been treating the electors to strawberry- feasts. 

" Mr. Hope," continued Lord Elcho, " wishing to do 
away with the licence, stands before you as the friend 
of the poacher. That, gentlemen, is the distinction be- 
tween him and me ; and it is because he is the poacher's 
and I am the farmer's, friend, that the attempt has 
been made, by those who call themselves the farmer's 
friends, to turn me out of the representation of the 
county. . . ." His Lordship said that the question 
upon which he was opposed was the Law of Hypothec, 
which he was in favour of retaining, and he dwelt in the 
usual way upon the benefit which the law was to the 
small tenant (as whose friend he mentioned that he 
stood there), and he said that the agitation for its aboli- 
tion was but the agitation of a small section of a class. 
" Now," continued he, " since I have had the honour to 
have a seat in Parliament, I have struggled against class 
legislation, and I shall ever struggle." It is almost 
incredible that any one should stand up in the face of 
day, and mention, as an instance of his struggles against 
class legislation, his desire to maintain a law which was 
one of the most undeniable pieces of class legislation that 
ever existed, — a law made by proprietors, for the sole 



MEMOIE OF GEOKGE HOPE. 271 

benefit of proprietors. No suspicion of class legislation 
can, of course, attach itself to the Game Laws, on which 
Lord Elcho had just been expressing his views. It is 
true they give to one class the sole right to the possession 
of wild animals, which are fed on the crops of another 
class ; it is also true that these laws result in the crea- 
tion of 10,000 convicts yearly, and that they serve no 
other purpose than that of giving what is called " sport " 
to one class, but doubtless they are maintained entirely 
for the sake of the welfare of the whole community. 
Class legislation ! — Impossible ! 

" I do not know," said Lord Elcho, " how it will be 
when the triumvirate of Mr. Hope — the band of Hope, 
M'Laren, and Bright — have produced the change they so 
ably advocate, but happily at present in this great, this 
free country, there is no man, from the peasant that fol- 
lows the plough — (interruption.) In order to provide 
against losing time, I have brought down with me a 
case of cigars. I ask you, Shall I smoke or shall I go 
on V (The noble Lord here produced his cigar-case, 
amidst hissing, cheering, and interruption.) " As I was 
saying," he continued, " every man in this great and free 
country, from the peasant who follows the plough, or 
the weaver who plies his shuttle, can rise by thrift, by 
industry, and by intelligence from the humble station 
in which his lot has been cast. Well, I want to see the 
small farmer able to rise. An experiment has been tried 
on my poor body ; . . . the experiment, I am happy to 
say, has failed ; and I would congratulate these gentle- 
men, quite as much as I would congratulate those 
who stand by me, on the failure of the experiment. 
How was this experiment tried ? Why, the Scotsman 
is a Liberal paper. (Groans, and a voice, — " No, it 's 



272 MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 

Tory.) The Scotsman, I say, is an ably-written paper. 
I "happen to have brought the Mercury here, and why 
have I brought it here ?" (His Lordship was brought 
to a pause by loud interruption, in the course of which 
he produced a cigar, lighted it, and appeared about to 
commence to smoke, when the uproar abated.) He then 
read an extract from a squib on the Edinburgh election, 
which had been published in the Mercury, after which 
he flung the paper into the crowd, where a scramble 
took place for it. He continued : — " Now, gentlemen, 
let me return to what the Scotsman said. The Scotsman 
said that the East Lothian struggle was a struggle 
between tenants and proprietors. Now then, let us be 
thankful that this experiment has failed, — I mean the 
experiment that has been tried on my vile body. Let 
us be thankful also on this account, because if this 
experiment had succeeded in East Lothian it would 
have been tried throughout the length and breadth of 
the country ; it would perhaps have extended to Eng- 
land. If this experiment had succeeded, it would have 
been tried elsewhere, and what would have been the 
result ? You would have had ranged in two classes a 
portion of the tenantry and of the proprietors, men 
whose interests are identical." If Lord Elcho believes 
that the interests of the tenantry and of the proprietors 
are identical, it is surprising that he should manifest 
such extreme terror at the idea of " the experiment " of 
returning a member of the former class to Parliament 
ever succeeding. " When people say," said Lord Elcho, 
" as I have been told during my canvass, that they want 
a representation of the tenantry, my reply was this, 
that, by wishing that, they wished the proprietors unre- 
presented, and also all other classes [! ! !]. When I go 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 273 

to Parliament, I do not go there as the representative of 
any section of the tenantry, I do not go there as the 
representative of the proprietors" — (a voice, — " You do") 
— " I go there as the representative of every trade and 
class and profession in this county, and I attend to their 
interests there, and Parliament attends to their interests 
there, and attends to the interests of all the people of 
this country equally, whether they are electors or non- 
electors." All history, it seems, is a delusion. If facts 
are at variance with Lord Elcho, so much the worse for 
facts. His Lordship continued to gloat over his victory. 
" I am glad," said he again, " that this experiment has 
failed. Let us all then, I repeat, be thankful that this 
experiment has failed, and instead of landlord and 
tenant being ranged in two hostile camps throughout 
the country, let us trust that these two classes will go 
on doing their respective duties in the stations in which 
it has pleased God to call them." 

The chosen representative of Haddingtonshire, at the 
conclusion of this remarkable address, flung a number 
of cigars among the crowd, one of which was flung back 
at him. 

My father, who, on coming forward, was received 
with loud and prolonged cheers, said : — " Electors and 
gentlemen, it has been Lord Elcho's duty to thank you 
for the victory he has achieved. It is now my turn to 
thank you, and I do so most sincerely. I return my 
most heartfelt thanks to those who tendered me their 
free, their unpurchased, ay, and their unasked- for votes. 
(Loud cheers.) I am proud to say, gentlemen, that I 
did not personally canvass one single individual. 
(Cheers and interruption.) I have not been upon 
these hustings in connection with the county election 

s 



274 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

since 1847. At that time I stood here as a supporter 
of the late Sir David Baird. Since then, Lord Elcho 
has made considerable progress in political knowledge, 
and I will say this for him, that I never heard a more 
liberal speech from him than that he made last Satur- 
day. I must say that when I looked at some of the 
gentlemen behind him, I felt that their ears must have 
tingled at the sentiments of his Lordship. He states 
here that there is very little political difference in this 
contest, and I admit that the Scotsman says it has 
failed to discover it ; but I venture to think that the 
staunch Conservative gentlemen in this county were 
much more quickly excited, and they rushed to the 
rescue. Lord Elcho says the majority of the tenantry 
have voted for him. I admit that this is the case, but 
not. if you take off the tenants upon his vast estates. 
(Cheers and groans.) Ninety-nine tenants voted for 
his Lordship, and ninety for myself; but of these 
ninety-nine, twenty-three were tenants on the Gosford 
estate — (cheers and groans) — and, notwithstanding all 
that, upwards of sixty of them did not vote at all. I 
should like to say a few words regarding the letter I 
wrote to his Lordship, in which I stated that there was 
no chance of there being any opposition to him. I was 
rather astonished at getting his letter, but his Lordship 
tells me now that he had heard, what I had never 
heard myself, whispers that I was to oppose him, and 
that was the reason why he wrote me the letter. I 
certainly never once dreamed of standing for the county 
at the time I wrote the letter. (Lord Elcho, ironically, 
— " Hear, hear. ) When my friends at last earnestly 
pressed that I should stand for the county, it was the 
greatest strain upon my patriotism to yield to their 



MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 275 

request, and if I had not seen that it was an absolute 
duty incumbent upon me, I certainly would never 
have consented. I must say that Lord Elcho, in the 
use he has made of my letter to himself, has spoken in 
a very loose and unguarded way. . . . His Lordship 
has told you that it is a very extraordinary thing that 
a section, as he says, of the tenantry should set up a 
candidate of their own ; what he wants is, that the 
proprietors should represent them, and he thinks it 
impossible that I should represent the proprietors and 
the whole community as well as the tenants. I trust 
I am just as able and as' independent in doing whatever 
may be for the good of my countrymen as Lord Elcho. 
(Cheers and hisses.) There is one thing I have been 
very much surprised at, and that is the attempt to put 
me in the same boat with Mr. Duncan M'Laren and 
Mr. John Bright. They are my personal friends, and 
I am proud to say so — (cheers) — but I do not adhere to 
all that they may choose to say. I am as independent 
in forming an opinion upon matters as they are, and 
although I agree with them in many things I also 
differ from them in much. . . . For the life of me, I 
cannot understand why a farmer should not be fitted 
for a seat in Parliament, for I cannot fancy that being 
able to grow turnips and potatoes should be any dis- 
qualification for a seat there." After referring to the 
Game Laws, my father continued : — " In regard to the 
Hypothec Commission, and the Eeport given by the 
Commission, I can only say I differ from the sentence 
his Lordship read to you. I think it all downright 
nonsense. (Cheers and groans.) He says the continu- 
ance of the law is necessary for the sake of the poor 
man. Now, what I want is for you to say that there 



276 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

shall be no such law at all. Is that class legislation, I 
ask, or is it possible to make it so by any construction 
of words ? All I want is a fair field and no favour. 
. . . Our contest has done great good. Many of the 
supporters of the noble Lord have told me so them- 
selves. Not only that, but several of the gentlemen 
who have recorded their votes for him have tendered 
money to help to pay my expenses. (Loud cheers.) 
I think our contest will have this further effect, that 
it will show that constituents are not to be overridden 
for aristocratic pleasure." (Loud and prolonged cheers 
and groans.) 

Thus ended the East Lothian election of 1865, when 
an attempt was made, for, I believe, the first time in 
Scotland, to return a tenant-farmer to Parliament. It 
was, as has been seen, unsuccessful ; for although the 
days of pocket-burghs have gone by, East Lothian may 
be said to be a pocket-county. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

"Fenton Barns, 22d Nov. 1865. 
" I feel thoroughly ashamed at having been so long 
in replying to your kind letter of August last, but I 
have been in a perfect whirl of business ever since the 
eventful election which caused so much talk at the 
time, and is yet spoken of as something which we East 
Lothian farmers are a little proud of. It has done my 
Lord Elcho a great deal of good, and the landlords 
throughout Scotland also. They have felt it as a 
warning. Some of them talk of farming all their own 
land and getting quit of these uppish big farmers. The 
total want of organisation that prevailed convinced me 
we had no chance ; indeed, it was only half an hour 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 277 

before the nomination that I saw it was inevitable that 
I must stand. That I polled above ninety of the pick 
of the tenant-farmers in the county was a great honour, 
of which I have reason to be proud. . . . My laird is 
said to have expressed himself thus, — ' That it was 
most degrading to Lady Mary and himself that the 
opposition to Lord Elcho came from their estate.' 
Perhaps he may come to think better of it ; for myself, 
I am quite indifferent ; I could not breathe if I felt 
I was controlled in any way. If I recollect right, 98 
tenants voted for Lord Elcho and 92 for me, but on his 
Lordship's list some 22 were his own tenants. Most 
of the large tenants voted for me ; a number did not 
vote at all. . . . My committee assessed themselves £1 
each, and that paid all the expenses." 

FROM MR. ADAM HOPE TO HIS BROTHER JOHN. 

" Of course the East Lothian election to which you 
alluded was a subject of most absorbing interest to all 
the Hopes in Canada. Even in Chicago, that wonder- 
ful city of the west, a friend of mine who was there at 
the time told me it created a good deal of interest 
amongst the politicians there, from the fact of a tenant- 
farmer entering the lists against Lord Elcho. Every- 
thing considered, George made a splendid fight ; with 
both sides of the aristocratic element against him, he 
polled more votes than Sir David Baird did, although 
backed by the whole influence of the Whig party." 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

Does he insist on superior strength of body or mind ? — Who of ns 
has no superior in one or other of these endowments ? Has nature con- 
ferred distinctions which tell us plainly who shall he owners and who 
owned ? — Who of us can unblushingly lift his head and say that God has 
written Master there ?— W. E. Channing. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

[22d November 1865.] 

" The cattle-plague keeps us all in great anxiety. I 
am glad to say that both John and I have hitherto kept 
free of it, but it is the greatest calamity that has fallen 
on the farmers in my day. I have now got quit of the 
Presidency of the Chamber of Agriculture, and most of 
my arbitration business, so I look forward to having a 
little leisure. Did you notice I was at the Sheffield 
meeting of the Social Science, and read a paper on the 
Game Laws? I., ,C, P., and M. were all there; we 
were on a visit to Mr. Swanwick, Chesterfield. We 
were at Chatsworth, Hardwicke, and other places." 

A single paragraph from the paper above alluded to 
I cannot resist quoting, although my father's views on 
the Game question are stated at sufficient length else- 
where in this volume. He said : — " I was lately shown 
a letter written by a proprietor to one of his tenants, 
dated only last month, and of which I took a copy, as a 
curious specimen of the light in which some proprietors 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 279 

view their tenants, and the insolent conduct they some- 
times unconsciously use towards them. In this letter 
the landlord complains that the son of the tenant had 
been seen shooting rabbits, and without the slightest 
excuse in the way of their damaging your crops, he 
says : ' Some time previously my keeper and gardener 

met your son and another person near having a 

greyhound with a loose rope round his neck ; of course 
it is not difficult to conjecture what was intended. 
You are yourself, I believe, aware of an incident where 
your son, and I believe two other persons, were dis- 
tinctly seen to course several hares. Whether this was 
on my ground or on that adjoining I am uncertain; 
however, I fancy it is very doubtful whether the pro- 
prietor's permission was given to such a proceeding.' 
Finally, he ' hopes he may have been misinformed, but 
does not think having him for a tenant a subject for 
congratulation.' Now there is not one word about 
game in this tenant's lease. Eabbits are by law game 
and not game ; but they are not game to the tenant in 
this case, and he could shoot or trap them as he chose. 
The landlord in fact admits this, though he seems to 
think the rabbits should have first damaged the tenant's 
crops. I would ask, What did they live and multiply 
on but the tenant's crops ? They could not be there 
at all without damaging them. Then the boy seen 
with the greyhound and the rope round its neck (a boy 
under nine years of age) on the public road — why, he 
was simply taking home the animal, that had strayed 
from a neighbouring farm, the same where the coursing 
took place. This story of the coursing is a beautiful 
illustration of the sort of tales carried by gamekeepers 
to their masters, and of the credulity of the latter ; the 



280 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

keepers had seen "distinctly" this tenant's son and two 
other persons course several hares, but were unable to 
say whether it was on this farm or that, though it was 
on an estate where the tenant had leave to course, and 
where the boy went by invitation. Mark also the view 
the landlord takes of what he styles ' such a proceeding' 
(the coursing of hares by a tenant) : ' I fancy it is very 
doubtful whether the proprietor's permission was given.' 
The arrogance of this letter will be more apparent when 
I tell you that this tenant has spent several thousand 
i pounds (not a penny of it made by farming) in bringing 
into cultivation some 200 acres, by trenching, liming, 
draining, and fencing with stone walls what was pre- 
viously a barren heath. He was under no obligation to 
do so, and it is doubtful whether he will recover the 
whole of his capital ; but one thing is certain, he will, 
at the close of his lease return the farm to the land- 
lord worth a great increase of rent, the effect of these 
permanent improvements effected by him with his own 
capital. . . ." 

The following is my father's opinion on the subject 
of deer forests. " It is almost ruin to a sheep -farmer," 
he writes, "to have the adjoining district converted into 
forest. The deer come down in the night from their 
fastnesses, sometimes hundreds in number, and graze 
with impunity on the grounds of the sheep- owners. 
They also make frequent raids for miles across the 
country, and in a single night destroy acres of the 
growing grain or root crops. There are thus grounds 
for the proposal of Mr. Loch ... to make the owners 
of estates where game comes from liable for damages. 
. . . Another, and perhaps a better plan, has been 
suggested — namely, to compel by law the surrounding 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 281 

of all deer-forests by a suitable wire-fence. ... It is 
estimated by competent judges that the land already 
given over to deer is capable of grazing from 350,000 
to 400,000 sheep. ..." 

The following letter from a farmer seems to bear out 

my father's statements : " My farm of is bounded 

for several miles by a deer-forest rented by Mr. H. It 
is a rental of only £115 a year, and I have been at the 
expense of upwards of £30 a year for an extra man to 
keep my sheep off the forest ; and although it is well 
known to every man of common sense that it is next to 
an impossibility to keep sheep off clear ground, he 
commenced last summer, and continues, to poind every 
sheep he can get, and interdicted me from allowing 
sheep, men, or dogs on his forest, although his deer 
are in scores, sometimes hundreds, on my farm almost 
every day. I 'm certain but for that I could keep 200 
more sheep. 

" About rabbits, I 'm tormented and eaten up in an 
almost incredible way. ... I have applied for a wire 

fence between deer-forest and me, but have been 

refused although I offered to pay interest on it. . . . 
So far from deer being afraid of 'the foul smearing- 

mixtures of the sheep-farmer,' I for one can assure 

that I'm surrounded by deer-forests on three or four 
different farms, and the deer are in all my covers, too 
many of them, nearly all the year round." 

Speaking at a public meeting in Haddington (I think 
in 1865 or 1866), my father (after arguing in favour of 
an extension of the franchise in burghs, and a redistri- 
bution of seats), said: — "The proposal to include £10 
householders in the voters for counties is such a very 
moderate demand that I cannot conceive any rational 



282 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

objection to it. An agricultural tenant paying £50 a 
year of rent, working harder and enjoying less of the 
fruits of his labour than the majority of hinds in this 
county, has at present a vote, and yet it is denied to a 
man who lives in a house and pays a rent of £30 or 
£40, or even £49, a year. I will tell you the reason 
why this has been the case hitherto. Men who live in 
such houses will not 'thole a factor's snash,' which 
many poor tenant-farmers have still to do, as they did 
in the days of our glorious national poet. But I go 
further. I want every bona fide owner of property in 
counties to the value of 40s. per annum to have a vote. 
This is the law of England, and why should it not be 
so in Scotland also ? Property, however small, is as 
precious to the owner as if it were a large estate, and 
the security of a country may be said to increase in 
proportion to the number of those who have a stake in 
it. But, in my opinion, too much stress is laid on the 
argument that the possession of wealth is necessary 
before a man can take any direct share in. the govern- 
ment of the country. Many also hold that it is the 
duty or privilege of the rich to think for their poorer 
brethren ; but I do not know a mere pernicious doctrine. 
No man can think for another, though great minds can 
and do enable others to think for themselves. This 
thinking for himself is the highest privilege of a human 
being, and one which the possession of the suffrage is 
calculated to quicken and excite. I consider, therefore, 
that a great wrong is perpetrated on all excluded from 
the suffrage, a wrong which can only be justified by a 
clear demonstration that it is absolutely necessary for 
the welfare of the whole community. . . . But I re- 
ligiously believe in the progress of the human race, and 



MEMOIE OF GEOKGE HOPE. 283 

I do firmly hope and trust that when the franchise is 
extended, as it soon mnst be, it will be used by the 
possessors in the way their consciences dictate so as 
best to promote the glory of God and the welfare of 
man." 

Holding the views which he did on the subject of 
the franchise, he was, as may be supposed, in favour of 
its extension to women householders. His was not 
that spurious Liberalism which, while professing to be 
in favour of representative government, can yet declare 
to a large class of tax-payers that the laws by which 
they are bound, which affect them in every relation of 
life, by which they can be deprived of their property, 
and even of their children, are no concern of theirs and 
are " beyond their sphere." True to the principles of 
Free-trade, which he had ever upheld, he was also in 
favour of the opening of all professions to women, per- 
ceiving that their exclusion from the labour market 
(unless in the case of a few ill-paid trades) was the 
upholding of a monopoly as unjustifiable as any of those 
against which he had been wont to do battle. 

At a public meeting in favour of Women's Suffrage, 
held at Haddington in 1873, he moved the first resolu- 
tion : — 

" That all women who are owners or occupiers of 
lands or houses in their own right should be entitled to 
vote for members of Parliament in the same circum- 
stances as men who are owners or occupiers of lands or 
houses of the same description and value." " This," he 
said, " appears to me a very modest and just resolution. 
It is modest, for you must recollect that women consti- 
tute at least one- half of the population of the country, 



284 MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 

and yet they do not ask for womanhood suffrage as men 
have asked for manhood suffrage, but only when they 
occupy houses or lands in their own right. If these 
houses and lands would qualify men, they should also 
qualify women, to vote for Parliamentary representatives. 
The resolution is also just, for is it not an acknow- 
ledged axiom that taxation without representation is 
tyranny ? And yet many women, both spinsters and 
widows, earn their own bread in a most creditable 
manner, and pay every rate and tax to which men are 
liable ; yet men have votes, and they have none. Women 
are also subject to the general laws of the realm, and 
any infringement of these laws (even game laws) by 
women renders them liable to punishment at least as 
heavy as if the crime had been committed by men. 
Besides, there are laws which affect women exclusively, 
such as the power possessed by their husbands over 
their purses, and what is still more serious, over their 
persons and children. . . . Under the feudal system, 
which is not yet extinct, it was quite common to entail 
estates on heirs-male only. The large Hopetoun estates 
in this county and elsewhere were succeeded to by Earl 
John, whose monument stands on the Garleton Hills, 
though his predecessor, Earl James, left a family of 
daughters. Owing to the notions which prevailed when 
might made right, instances of this treatment of women 
frequently occurred. The longer I consider this ques- 
tion, the more certain I feel that to give women votes, 
at least under the circumstances stated, is sound policy, 
and certain to be productive of good results. I have 
been asked — ' Would you have women engage in the 
turmoil of a contested election, and venture to the poll- 
ing-booth, exposed to the rough jokes, if not to the 



MEMOIK OF GEORGE HOPE. 285 

insults, or perhaps personal violence, of an excited 
mob V I have replied — ' The very presence of women 
makes men more manly, and all gatherings are more 
restrained and better behaved when women are present, 
whether at public meetings or at the dinner-table, than 
is often the case when only men meet together/ But 
the Ballot Bill is now law, and you have seen its effects 
at the last election of your Town- Councillors, and read 
in the newspapers the accounts of its working in the 
voting for members of Parliament in various places 
since the Bill became law ; and I fearlessly ask you, Is 
there the slightest risk in the most delicate lady walk- 
ing to the polling-booth and dropping her vote into the 
ballot-box ? It often takes a long time before a bad law 
can be repealed, or a good measure enacted, but if right 
we have only to persevere. I have been a keen advo- 
cate of the ballot for the last forty years. In 1837, 
that is thirty-six years ago, Mr. Steuart, then M.P. for 
the burgh, first voted for the Ballot. I at once bought 
property here for the sake of votes to my father and 
myself, that we might support him and the Liberal 
cause. Having soon to remove beyond the statutory 
distance from your burgh, I shall lose my vote here, 
but I rejoice that the main object for which I obtained 
it has been attained, although taking a long time to 
come, for now, without fear of worldly interest, all may 
act as their consciences dictate. Again, it has been 
said that women cannot understand politics, and that 
such questions are beyond their sphere. This I utterly 
deny, from personal knowledge of many women. Let 
us take public examples. Where will you find men of 
keener intellect than Harriet Martineau ? or than the 
late Mary Somerville in science ? or where is there a 



286 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE, 

clearer or more subtle mind than that of Mrs. Lewes, 
the accomplished authoress of Middlemarch, a work 
for which she has received £8000, and which has been 
the book of the past year ? . . ." 

My father spoke at several public meetings on this 
subject. 



CHAPTEE XV. 



Our Laird gets in his racked rents. — Burns. 

General rebellions and revolts of a whole people never were encouraged, 
now or at any time ; they are always provoked. — Edmund Burke. 



EXTKACTS FKOM NOTE-BOOK KEPT BY Mr. HOPE DURING 

a Visit to Ireland in 1868. 

" 30th April 1868. — Arrived at Belfast this morning 
with Mr. Eobert Russell, after a not unpleasant voyage, 
although it was windy, and for some time the vessel 
laboured. After breakfasting with Mr. and Mrs. F., we 
took rail to Clomber, and visited Mr. B. He has leases 
of twenty-five and thirty years, and he paid tenant-right 
for his land — for some of it £10 per acre. ... He 
thinks something should be done about tenant-right, as 
it exhausts the capital of the tenant, and is in an inse- 
cure position, depending wholly on the will of the land- 
lord. He would not farm as he does with tenant-right 
unless he had a lease. He seldom heard of landlords 
evicting tenants without allowing them something, 
though it had been occasionally done, and he heard last 
Saturday of a landlord having ' given notice ' to two 
tenants who refused to prosecute poachers. . . . The 



288 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

contrast between Mr. B.'s land and some adjoining small 
farms was striking. ... A good deal of flax sown be- 
tween Belfast and Clomber : the smaller the farm the 
larger the proportion of flax. 

"1st May.— Took rail to Lisburne. . . . Called on 
Mr. M., farmer and cattle-dealer. He farms under four 
landlords. Tenant-right worth £20 or £25 an acre, 
and he held under a lease of thirty years, at 20s. an 
acre of rent. Oats the great crop, — fair land. . . . 
Dined in the evening at Dr. R's. The Doctor being in 
London, we were entertained by Mrs. E. ; a company of 
fifteen at dinner. Talked of the death of Mr. Feather- 
stone. He had proposed to raise the rents of his 
tenants some £34 a year : some of them paid, others did 
not, but tendered him the old rent. He gave these 
notice to quit, and was shot. 

" Captain Bolton built two houses on Lord Hertford's 
estate. The Captain voted against John Inglis when 
Lord Advocate, and was deprived of his houses. Next 
election he voted for the candidate, and his houses were 
returned to him. He died, and left his money for 
charitable purposes, — the rent of the houses to be 
applied for school purposes. Lord Hertford had brought 
an action of ejectment, but failed on technical grounds; 
thought he would succeed next time. Excuse given for 
this — that the houses were to be given to a sister of 
the Captain's. 

" 2d May. — Came to County Tyrone, to see Mr. 
Burgess of Parkacour. . . . Walked over a large part 
of estate; saw a police- barrack, — a national school, 
plenty of maps. Schoolmaster taught a night-school 
for older children. Looked into Catholic Chapel ; two 
or three good pictures, and a handsome image of the 



MEMOIK OF GEOEGE HOPE. 289 

Virgin, finely dressed. Called on the priest, a shrewd 
little man. He had two good pictures. Called on a 
number of Mr. Burgess's tenants. Size of farms from 
five to thirty acres. Some have leases ; others not : all 
would like leases. One without a lease building a 
stable and barn at a cost of £40. . . . House very 
dirty, but large quantities of bacon in the kitchen. . . . 
All about planting potatoes; people working hard. 
One or two tenants' houses good, others very small. 
Mr. Eassell says the houses are very similar to those 
in the west of Scotland. 

" Parkacour is a large house, built in the castellated 
form. There is in one room a great collection of china, 
said to be valuable, in glass cases, which cover all the 
walls. The wood of which they are made is alder, 
grown on the estate, and made by a country wright. 
There is a fine hall, with an organ in a gallery. Here 
there is evidently great interest taken in the welfare of 
the people, who are wonderfully comfortable, consider- 
ing the smallness of the holdings. No difference is 
made whether they are Catholics, Presbyterians, or 
Church people. The land in the owner's hands is well 
farmed. 

" 3d May, Sunday. — Went to parish church and heard 

the Eev. Mr. preach a charity sermon for the 

education of Protestant orphan children in families in 
place of the workhouse. In the afternoon took a long 
walk, and called on a number of the tenants. Their 
farms averaged about twelve acres ; most of them, or 
rather all, very comfortable, and some of them very 
clean and tidy. All expressed their pleasure at seeing 
us, and spoke frankly of the great encouragement 
received from their landlord. 



290 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

" Extract from Orders and Conditions for the Planters 
of Ulster: — 

" ' His Majesty is pleased to grant estates in fee-farm 
to them and their heirs. 

" ' The said undertakers shall not demise any part of 
their lands at will only, but shall make certain estates 
for years, for life in taile, or a fee-simple. 

" ' No uncertain rent shall be reserved by the said 
undertaker, but the same shall be expressly set down 
without reference to the custom of the country, and a 
proviso shall be inserted in their letters-patent against 
cuttings, carteries, and other Irish exactions. 

" ' Every undertaker of 2000 acres within two years 
to build a castle and strong court or Bourie; 1500 acres, 
to build a stone or brick house with a strong court ; 
1000 acres, a strong court; and all the said undertakers 
shall draw their tenants to build houses for themselves 
and their families near the principal castle or house or 
Bourie, for the mutual defence and strength.' 

" 4tth May. — Beturned to Belfast. . . . Drove to 
Carrickfergus ; along the shore and over to Magee 
Island ; saw Scotland, Ailsa Craig, etc. Land about 
Carrickfergus very fine. In the immediate neighbour- 
hood much of it let at £4 an acre (no tenant-right on 
the town lands). . . . Had a long chat with a farmer 
who farmed some 50 acres, and another who farmed 
150 acres. The first said his tenant-right was worth 
more than £600 ; the latter said his was worth more 
than £2000. The rents paid were 30s. an acre. They 
were both clear-headed men, and yet they did not 
get a newspaper unless when at market ; they did 
not read the Whig, as, they said, 'it was rather a 
Popish paper/ Saw Dean Swift's church. The views 



MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 291 

of the opposite shore — Holyhead, Bangor, etc., — very 
fine. 

" 5th May. — Got up early and went by rail to New- 
townards, and then drove to Grey Abbey. Saw Mr. Hall 
and his wife ; breakfasted with them. Mr. Hall said 
his father took a small farm, built a house, and im- 
proved it : rent was raised 1 Os. an acre. Eent of other 
tenants was not raised, as they had not improved. 
Tenants always afraid of the rents being raised. Land- 
lords despotic. Lord Londonderry ordered the tenants 
in winter to repair their cottages, or he would turn them 
out at once, and they had to do it. 

" Took rail to Londonderry ; saw Scotland after leav- 
ing Belfast. At Antrim there is one of the old round 
towers. After leaving Ballymena the land got bleaker 
until we came to Ballymoney, where there had been a 
large cattle-fair. The people busily trucking the cattle, 
and an immense number of people at the station travel- 
ling by rail — farmers, their wives and daughters, and 
labourers. From there the land improves. We went 
along the shore of Lough Neagh. The large reclama- 
tion from the loch does not seem very successful ; most 
of it was wet-looking. There are several steam-engines 
for pumping off the water at different places. . . . 

" 6th May. — Spent most of the day in seeing Derry. 
. . . Saw Mr. Caiscaden, an extensive dealer and farmer, 
who told various stories of hardship of tenants' property 
being confiscated. . . . Saw Mr. Gardner, a Scotchman, } 

who farmed about 600 acres of the reclaimed land : was 
in favour of leases, but he said the tenants would not 
take them, as they thought when leases closed rents 
might be raised. 

" 7 th May. — Left Bally shannon ; drove by car to 



292 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Sligo; saw Lord Palmerston's estate. Left Sligo at 
3.25 ; passed Carrick-on- Shannon, Longford, Edge- 
worthstown. Saw the residence of Miss Edgeworth. 

" Saturday, 9th May. — Left Lismore. At several 
stations emigrants leaving ; the same melancholy fare- 
wells at all. The people leaving seemed comfortably 
dressed, but amongst those bidding them farewell were 
numerous specimens in a very ragged condition. Near 
Dublin, vegetation more advanced than further west. 
Our visit to Mr. P. very interesting. Drove about a 
good deal, and saw much." 

It may be mentioned that wherever my father went 
when in Ireland he was of opinion that the people were 
working uncommonly hard ; and although he was told 
that this was only because they were planting potatoes, 
such a reason scarcely seems sufficient entirely to 
account for the contrast between what he saw and 
what is frequently said of the idleness of the Irish 
peasantry. In a review, written by my father, I think 
in 1850, of a work on Ireland, he says : — "The failure 
of the potato crop completed the ruin of a country 
naturally possessing a fine climate and a rich soil ; 
and a numerous population, whose sole business was 
the production of food, died by thousands from sheer 
want. . . . We desire to recall to the recollection of 
our readers that Ireland was long held as a conquered 
country, the soil of which was parcelled out to English 
nobles, whose fortunes were not bound up in its wel- 
fare. The amalgamation of the races was forbidden by 
law. In the fourteenth century intermarriage was 
declared high treason, and for which, in the fifteenth 
century, an Earl of Desmond lost his head. After the 
Reformation it was not so much race as creed that was 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 293 

the object of British hatred. Because the Bible de- 
clared, ' The righteous shall inherit the earth/ native 
heretics were expelled from their homes to make room 
for British Protestants : this was known as the Planta- 
tion system of those days. In 1698, when it was 
rumoured that the Irish had the audacity to make 
coats for soldiers, a bill was brought into the British 
House of Commons to prevent this interference with 
the staple trade of England. This, it is true, was 
changed into an address to the King, who promised, in 
his answer, that he would do all that in him lay to 
promote the trade of England and to discourage the 
woollen manufacture in Ireland. It was only in 1782 
that the most obnoxious of the penal laws were repealed 
— laws which prohibited the education of Catholics, 
prevented them from pursuing any profession, or own- 
ing land, or even renting it for longer than thirty years ; 
which ordained that, should they happen to realise 
profits equal to one-third of their rent, the lease was to 
be transferred to any Protestant who might make the 
discovery. Neither could a Catholic hold a mortgage 
above the value of £5 without a Protestant being able 
to seize the same on tendering that sum ; and, to com- 
plete the picture, a Catholic child pretending to turn 
Protestant could seize on all his father's property, and 
if he did so after his father's death, he could disinherit 
all the other children. 

" We must bear in mind that it was under such laws 
as these that the Irish mind has been formed, for though 
the laws have passed away, their effects have not been 
obliterated ; and now the Episcopal Church, in an 
essentially Catholic country, remains as a monument 
of the degradation of the people. The mass of the 



294 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

population had no alternative but each to cultivate his 
potato patch at any rent the landlord chose to name 
compatible with the existence of the tenant. It is no 
wonder, then, that landlords, with the power of England 
at their back to enforce every claim, however morally 
unjust, should have forgotten that property has its 
duties as well as its rights. . . ." 

Ardently as my father ever supported the principle 
of religious equality, he felt that even the disestablish- 
ment of the Irish Church was of but secondary import- 
ance compared with a satisfactory settlement of the 
Irish Land question. His journey to Ireland in 1868 
was undertaken solely with the view of seeing for him- 
self the working of the system of land tenure there. 
That he believed that system to be bad, even in Ulster, 
and saw its results to be deplorable, is, I think, indicated 
in his notes. Both in Ireland and elsewhere, he disliked 
a system of small farms, believing that the small farmer 
worked harder, and enjoyed less of the fruits of his 
labour, than many farm-servants ; and when the small 
farmer was a tenant-at-will, he looked upon his condi- 
tion as little better than that of a serf. He greatly 
preferred to any other a system of land tenure in which 
the occupiers were also the owners of the land. " I 
would rather," he said, " farm fifty acres of my own 
land than occupy five hundred as a tenant." It was to 
some reform of the Land Laws, and not to coercive 
measures, that he looked to improve the state of Ire- 
land. He took the deepest interest in the passing of 
the Irish Land Act of 1870, and hoped that it might 
do something to lessen Irish distress. At the present 
crisis, seeing how useless the Land Act has proved, he 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 295 

would, I am sure, have had greater sympathy with 
those who think that some more radical reform of the 
system of land tenure is imperatively called for, than 
with those who, ignoring the fact that landlordism in 
Ireland was originally the result of spoliation, and that 
for generations the tenant's property has been confis- 
cated, talk of the sacred rights of property, and would 
" improve the state of Ireland" by such measures as a 
suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act and an increased 
police force ; and he certainly would not have agreed 
with those who can see no remedy for Irish distress 
but emigration — emigration which, being undertaken 
in order to avoid something approaching to death by 
starvation, may be said to be compulsory, and to be 
therefore simply exile. The occurrence of a famine, 
or the subsistence of the greater part of the agricul- 
tural population upon charity, are the alternatives 
brought about by one or two bad seasons ; and at all 
times the great bulk of the population dependent on 
the land lives in a state of the most abject poverty 
which it is possible to conceive. A system of land 
tenure which has produced these results surely stands 
condemned. 

My father, I think, would now have agreed with the 
words of John Stuart Mill : " Nothing can be done for 
Ireland without transforming her rural population from 
cottier tenants to something else. . . . The object should 
be their transformation, as far as circumstances admit, 
into landed proprietors." 1 " No accommodation is hence- 
forth possible which does not give the Irish peasant all 
that he could gain by a revolution — permanent posses- 
sion of the land, subject to fixed burdens. . . . An 
1 Principles of Political Economy. 



296 MEMOIE OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

equivalent ought to be given for the bare pecuniary 
value of all mischievous rights which landlords or any 
others are required to part with. But no mercy ought 
to be shown to the mischievous rights themselves ; no 
scruples of purely English birth ought to stay our 
hands from effecting, since it has come to that, a real 
revolution in the economical and social constitution of 
Ireland." 1 

1 England and Ireland. J. S. Mill. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 



Both [Forest and Game Laws] alike were founded upon the same 
unreasonable notions of property in wild creatures, and both were pro- 
ductive of the same tyranny to the commons. — Blackstone. 



TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" Fenton Barns, 16th April 1868. 

" I have felt no such interest in ' any debate in Par- 
liament since 1832 as I have done in the late great 
debates on Ireland. The Irish Church is doomed ; its 
days are numbered. Scotland may almost be said to 
be unanimous on this great question. The Free Church 
here has wonderfully improved the political atmosphere. 
There is, I hear, a meeting to be held at Haddington 
next week in favour of Gladstone's resolutions. I will 
send you a paper, as I may have to say a few words. 

" P. met H. and me at Glencotho on Wednesday 
evening. He had never before seen the new house 
there, or my purchase at Biggar of 90 imp. acres." 

"Fenton Barns, 21th July 1868. 
" Some days we have had the thermometer in the 
shade at 80° and 85°. We are not accustomed to such 
heat as this, and we have had no rain for a couple of 
months beyond a few drops. We begin harvest to- 
morrow with all our strength, all the barley being ripe. 
It is long since we began ' shearing ' in July before. 



298 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

The wheat crop will be the best we have had for years. 
. . . Potatoes look wonderful, considering the drought. 
All mine are closed in the drills, and are perhaps the 
best in the county, — certainly so, when the extent (105 
imp. acres) is taken into consideration. My beans are 
light in straw, but remarkably well podded. I hear 
some people say they have no pods. I never saw a 
year when deep cultivation and plenty of manure made 
such a difference in the crop. That is the way in 
which I account for Fenton Barns coming out so well 
this year, though of course some people say it is the 
land. Even my turnips are better than the general run, 
though one-fourth of the whole have not brairded yet. 
All pastures are completely burnt up; not a green 
blade is to be seen. I am feeding some fifty cattle on 
hay and cake, and also 300 sheep. 

" We are in the midst of a great election canvass in 
this county. Lord William Hay made an excellent 
speech at Haddington on Friday. I am going to meet- 
ings at Tranent and Prestonpans to-morrow." 

At the general election of 1868 my father was 
invited to contest more than one constituency. Many 
of his friends were desirous that he should again stand 
for Haddingtonshire, but he thought Lord William 
Hay's chance of success was better than his own. 
Still, he was aware that in any case it was but a forlorn 
hope. He writes to Lord William Hay : — " As far as 
I can ascertain, the poll would stand thus : for Lord 
Elcho 317, and for you 287." 

I may here mention that some years after this time 
my father was twice over invited to dinner for the 
express purpose of being " set upon " by his hosts and 



MEMOIK OF GEORGE HOPE. 299 

others, who endeavoured to extract from him a promise 
not to come forward for a certain constituency which 
they thought he entertained an idea of standing for. 
Those hospitalities were exercised on behalf of two 
different persons, at least one of whom (an Edinburgh 
gentleman since deceased) expressed for the occasion 
so extraordinary an amount of zeal for the reform of 
the Game Laws and the abolition of Hypothec that 
even my father could not help doubting its genuineness. 
The constituency not being vacant, my father was of 
opinion that these gentlemen were premature in arrang- 
ing their plans concerning it, and he therefore carefully 
abstained from giving them any information as to 
whether or not he entertained any idea of standing 
for it. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

"26th August 1868. 
" It is a pity the wheat crop has been somewhat 
damaged by the late frequent rains, as I never cut such 
quality. I am terribly concerned about the potato 
crop. Throughout the whole kingdom the young 
tubers have sent out shoots and stems which will 
prevent their further growth, and ruin their quality. 
I don't know what to do or what to think about it. 
I valued my potato crop lately at £2500 at least. I 
doubt now if it is worth the half of that sum, but I try 
to hope it may not prove so bad after all; only I never 
saw the like of it before." 

" 15th October 1868. 
" I am glad to say the second growth of the potatoes 
has not done so much harm as I at first thought it 



300 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

must inevitably do. The crop is a fair one, and prices 
are high. 

" We shall expect to hear when Mr. W. and your 
daughter C. propose to leave. I daresay P. will be 
very glad to have the chance of bringing C. here from 
Liverpool." 

" 3d December 1868. 

"We were all very glad when C. arrived in safety 
and health at the old homestead. I met her and P. at 
the N.B. Station in Edinburgh, being on my way to the 
Peeblesshire election. I also voted for Major Hamilton, 
the Liberal M.P. for Lanarkshire, next morning before 
returning to Haddington, which I arrived at before 
half -past eleven. We were beat [in Haddingtonshire], 
notwithstanding the excellence of our candidate. Of 
course I was much disappointed, but it is not easy for 
poor men in the county to vote against the proprietors. 
I sent the Haddington paper, that you might see an 
account of the proceedings. [My father seconded Lord 
William Hay's nomination.] 

" P. left us this morning for Liverpool, which he pre- 
fers much to Glasgow, but I daresay he will ultimately 
take to farming. I would certainly like him to do so, 
particularly if I thought I could arrange for a new 
lease of F. B. 

"I need hardly say we are all delighted with C, 
and I hope she will soon find herself quite at home 
here." 

" 1st September 1869. 

" We have had a very delightful visit from Charles 
and J., and also R and A. It has been to us all a 
source of great enjoyment, and I am very sorry to think 
they leave us next week to return to the Dominion. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 301 

There have been no end of the old stories and remini- 
scences Charles and I have talked over. . . . And what 
shall I say of your dear daughter C. ? She won all our 
affections long ago, and the whole household will mourn 
her departure. We would fain lay a strong hand on 
her and keep her here. . . . We can only hope she 
will soon reach you safe and sound, and that her visit 
to the old home will be a source of pleasure to her in 
after years." 

In April 1869 my father was examined as a witness 
by a " Select Committee of the House of Lords " upon 
the Law of Hypothec. A Committee of the House of 
Lords upon Hypothec can scarcely be looked upon as 
other than a farce, when it is considered that it is the 
interest of every member of it to bolster up, by every 
means in his power, a law for the protection of land- 
lords. It was perhaps too much to expect that any 
witness who presumed to differ from their Lordships 
should be treated with common civility, and at least 
one noble Lord addressed my father in a manner which 
he might have been expected to adopt towards a 
poacher whom he had caught in the act of shooting 
his pheasants. The printed report of the proceedings 
did not, my father said, convey any idea of the be- 
haviour of this " gentleman." * 

The following remarks on Education were read by 
my father about this time at a meeting of the Scottish 
Chamber of Agriculture : — " The question of Education 
has of late attracted much public attention, and I 
understand that the present Government has engaged 
to introduce into the Parliament about to assemble a 

1 The late Earl of Dalhousie, formerly Lord Panmure, and 
originally Fox Maule. 



302 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Bill to establish a truly national system of education. 
Of course we cannot yet tell what the proposed 
measure may be, or how it may affect the several dis- 
tricts; still I think it is one of those questions that 
this Chamber is bound to discuss, and I hope the in- 
fluence it possesses may be thrown into the right scale. 
To my mind there is no question that can be compared 
in interest to national education. Mr. Lowe has 
caustically remarked, ' We must teach our future 
masters to read and write,' and Mr. Samuelson and 
others say that unless technology is taught to our 
workmen, we shall lose our superiority in manufac- 
tures. . . . Without scrutinising any motives urged for 
an increased and higher education, I am glad there is a 
prospect of an education of some sort being speedily 
put within the reach, I hope, of every child in Great 
Britain. I feel painfully conscious that the so-called 
education of the middle class is most inadequate to the 
requirements of the age, and that there is almost as 
great a deficiency in higher and more advanced schools 
as there is admitted to be in primary ones. I would 
beg you to recollect that being able to read and write 
is not so much education as the key to it ; and even the 
acquirement of Latin and Greek is merely a knowledge 
of words. By education I understand being taught to 
observe and to think, by the cultivation of all those 
intellectual, moral, and religious faculties which dis- 
tinguish our nature. Beading only places us in com- 
munication with the ideas and minds of others — it may 
be with the good and great of past ages and of the 
present time, but it may be with the mistaken and the 
vicious ; while writing simply enables us to preserve 
our own thoughts and to communicate them to others. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 303 

Surely no human being should be left without the 
chance of knowing something of their own bodies and 
the laws which regulate health. There are laws also 
which regulate the production of wealth, which can no 
more be infringed without pain and suffering by the 
body politic than can the laws of health without pro- 
ducing disease in our bodily frame. Political Economy, 
then, must be studied by all. It has been proved over 
and over again that the great majority of the criminal 
class is composed of those to whom the blessing of 
education has been denied. Certainly the man who 
comprehends (it may be very inadequately) the power 
and wisdom of God in the formation of the heavens, or 
the wonderful preparation of this earth for the habita- 
tion of man as revealed by geology, or who sees the 
beneficence of the Deity in every flower, — the man that 
does so possesses within himself a life and a happiness 
far beyond what can be enjoyed by him who knows 
nothing beyond the indulgence of the passions he 
possesses in common with the brutes. Education 
therefore is not only a motive power enabling us to 
rise in the scale of creation, but it also enables us to 
restrain our appetites and passions, to do justice, and 
to walk in harmony with our fellow-men. I have heard 
it remarked that people should be educated according 
to their station. This proves to me that the makers of 
such a speech, implying restriction of a great blessing, 
required themselves much additional instruction. Of 
course, in Scotland, we will retain and supplement our 
excellent parish schools, but they must no longer remain 
under the exclusive management of qualified heritors 
and the ministers of the Established Church. The 
schoolmaster's salary must be aided by a compulsory 



304 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

rate on every householder, and the government of the 
school should be under a committee elected by the rate- 
payers. One-half, or at least one-third, of the expense 
should be defrayed out of the general taxation of the 
country. . . . One great objection to this system has 
hitherto been the religious difficulty. I can see no 
reason for longer dispute about this. I consider it a 
religious duty to see that all children are taught to read 
and write, and every one admits that even what is 
styled secular knowledge should be taught in a religious 
spirit. Of course, if any teacher, or the governing body 
of a School receiving State aid, should consider it a duty 
to indoctrinate children with those theological dogmas 
which perplex and puzzle older heads, objecting parents 
must be allowed to withdraw their children from such 
teaching, without detriment or loss to the children in 
their standing in other classes, or in any other way. I 
now come to what with many is still a most difficult 
point, viz. , Should education be compulsory ? I do not 
believe that any compulsion would be requisite in this 
country ; let us only get the schools, and the schools 
made free to all, and moral suasion will do the rest. I 
think it would be well to make the Factory Acts appli- 
cable to farming and all other trades, so as to prevent 
the removal from school of children under a certain age. 
The small additional wages that may be earned by a 
child for behoof of the household must be a great 
temptation to a labouring man with a numerous family. 
But, let me ask, what is the price too often paid for it ? 
Is it not frequently the stunting of the growth of the 
child in soul and body ? Is it not an early preparation 
for a pauper life, for which society pays the penalty of 
increased poor-rates for the neglect or want of super- 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 305 

vision ? Were all children under twelve or thirteen 
years of age banished from our fields for nine months of 
the year, it might be against our immediate interests as 
employers of labour ; but there would be a greater 
demand and increased wages for older people to do the 
work, which would more than compensate the labouring 
class as a whole. Should it be found that children still 
haunt the streets, and are growing up in heathen 
ignorance and idleness, then I think the State would 
have a fair right to step in and say, Such a thing shall 
not be. There is compulsory cleanliness, and we are 
not permitted to live so as to breed a pestilence amongst 
our neighbours. We have compulsory vaccination to 
protect us from a loathsome disease. Again, every 
child born in Britain has a right, by our poor laws, to 
food and clothing from birth till death. Society then 
has an undoubted right to insist that every child shall 
be so trained as best to fit him to earn his own liveli- 
hood. I should strongly recommend that whenever 
the Government measure is produced, this Chamber 
should discuss the question, and insist not only on 
additional primary schools, but on the establishment of 
others for the teaching of literature, history, and science 
to advanced pupils." 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" Fenton Barns, Qth Jan. 1870. 
" I have been busy of late, but last night finished a 
paper which may be published in a collection of Essays 
which are shortly to appear, to be styled Recess Studies. 
My paper is on ' Hindrances to Agriculture.' I have 
also within the last few days bought the farm of Sun- 
wick, in Berwickshire [680 acres]. I am about to sell 

u 



306 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Glencotho and every other thing I hold, to try and have 
it free of debt. It is in a nice country, near the Tweed, 
and two-thirds at least of the land is as good as Fenton 
Barns. The other parts can be made good, but it has 
never been farmed. ... I am afraid my anxiety about 
Sunwick has been decidedly against my paper/' 

TO MR. CHARLES HOPE. 

"2d February 1870. 

" I told Adam in my last about the purchase of Sun- 
wick. I have not been able to get my price for Glen- 
cotho, so have made up my mind to borrow almost all 
the money to pay for Sunwick. In fact, I have already 
done so. I consider Sunwick a great bargain in the 
way of land. The great drawback is the present lease, 
which has nearly sixteen years to run. 

" I have this day sent to Adam, per book post, a 
pamphlet which I have contributed to a a volume called 
Recess Studies, in which there are ten essays, by differ- 
ent people, the whole being edited by Sir Alex. Grant. 
It was only published yesterday, and I have not yet 
read the other papers." 

In a criticism of my father's paper which appeared in 
the Scotsman, it was stated that he " quietly assumed, 
without even attempting to prove," 1 something or other 
about the Game question. My father called upon Mr. 
Eussel (then editor of the Scotsman), the writer of the 
critique, and asked him what he meant by saying this, 
as he had written two pages and a half in which he had 
at least attempted to prove his statement. " To tell 

1 I quote from memory, but if these are not the words, they were 
to the same effect. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 307 

you the truth," said Mr. Kussel, " I never read your 
paper ; I just glanced at some passages that were marked 
for me : but write to the Scotsman and tell me where 
I 'm wrong." This, however, my father declined to do, 
saying he was satisfied with Mr. Eussel's admission that 
he had not read his paper before writing a criticism 
of it. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" 23d May 1870. 
" I am very sorry to tell you I consider that our 
brother John has been seriously ill, and is still very 
weak. ... I was at Elphinstone twice last week, and 
I. and P. each once. The difficulty now is for him to 
take food. . . . 

" If nothing comes in the way, we propose going to 
Glencotho next week, to stay at least three weeks, 
leaving P. here to look after the farming operations." 

" 16th June 1870. 

" I have no doubt you will all be anxious about poor 
John, as we have been here, and still are in a smaller 
degree, for I am glad to say we now consider him in the 
way of improvement. I saw him on Saturday last, and 
he seemed to me much stronger, and suffering compara- 
tively little pain. A., however, did not report so favour- 
ably of him on Sunday. I. went to Elphinstone on 
Monday, and remained till Tuesday afternoon. She 
thinks John is very weak, and will require long and 
careful nursing. I am going to see him this afternoon. 
If you do not hear next week, you may consider him 
going on favourably." 



308 MEMOIE OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

TO MRS. HOPE. 

" 25th June. 
" I am glad to tell you John said this morning he 
thought he had passed the most natural night since his 
illness commenced. He had had no pain, had slept and 
felt cheerful. . . . John said to me yesterday did I 
think you would come and stay with him for a week, 
for one week, if I could spare you for that time ? I feel 
it is throwing a heavy burden on you, which you have 
no call to bear ; but I am satisfied that John is now to 
be either better or worse, and that much may depend 
on careful watching, and we are entitled to hope for the 
best. I write this to give you a chance of getting it in 
the morning before you leave." 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" 27th June 1870. 

" I got your letter of the 1 6th last night, but poor 
John did not live to hear of your sympathy. I left him 
yesterday at two o'clock, when I. took my place. She 
saw at once that the dampness of death was on him ; 
but I had gone on by the train, from Tranent to Drem, 
by which she arrived. After great and long -continued 
suffering, he passed away as calmly and quietly as a 
sleeping child. ... I should mention, w T e all thought 
him so much better that we went to Glencotho. I. saw 
him a week past on Monday, and took his son with her 
to see his father. She came with him [his son] to 
Glencotho, where I had gone on the Saturday. But on 
Friday last John had a relapse ; I was telegraphed for 
on Saturday, and was with him all Sunday, Monday, 
and on Tuesday till two o'clock. On Sunday he asked 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 309 

me if I could spare I. for one week — just one week — 
when I replied I would write at once, and I knew there 
was none she would nurse with greater zeal ; he squeezed 
my hand and said — ' Oh, write for her ! ' On the Mon- 
day evening he was very ill ; on Tuesday I thought him 
better, and when I left I thought him in a dangerous 
position certainly, but that the end was so near I did 
not dream. I. will stay with A. till the funeral is 
over." 

" 18th July 1870. 

" Since my last sad note I have never had the nerve 
to write again to your side of the Atlantic. I so fondly 
hoped our dear brother was recovering, I must have 
shut my eyes to the sad reality. The doctors said his 
case was a grave one, but they also said they did not 
despair of his ultimate recoveiy. I am confident that 
a purer spirit than that of poor John never appeared 
before its Maker. The sympathy for him in his neigh- 
bourhood was very great. I had no idea of the extent 
of his influence in his parish and neighbourhood until 
after his death. . . . There is a short notice of him in 
the Farmer. I send this paper by post to Charles, and 
the Haddington Courier to you. There is a curious 
paper by Patrick Sheriff, also in the Courier ; of course 
I treat it with perfect contempt. If he lost a prize, I 
lost two. It is a perfect illustration of the man's 
character. — But to return to poor John. He was buried 
on the 2d July at Tranent. ... I took his poor little 
son by the hand. The funeral was very large ; every- 
body came, and some without a formal invitation." 

" 18th Jan. 1871. 

"Your sad letter of the 31st December and 1st and 
2d of this month came to hand last night. What could 



310 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

we do but mourn with you and H., and the children 
still spared to you ? ... It is indeed a sore, sore trial, 
as we know by much experience. May our Heavenly 
Father comfort you all, as He only can ! It is easy to 
say, Be comforted, but we know how difficult it is to 
say at first without reservation, 1 Thou dost all things 
well.' Time, and time only, can heal the torn affections 
so suddenly wrenched asunder. Our holy faith does 
not forbid us to sorrow when our loved ones are taken 
from us. We know they have passed to a higher and 
nobler existence, which we hope also to attain, and to 
which we never cease to aspire. Time heals all wounds. 
I have thought that I never could smile again, and that 
all interest in this life was over for me, and now, when 
I think of those departed ones, the memory of them 
makes me glad, and I thank God for having bestowed 
them on me even for a short period. We could not be 
otherwise than full of anxiety since the receipt of your 
former letter. We have been much interested in all 
you say regarding E." 

" 2d Feb. 1871. 

"We were all happy to receive yours of the 15th 
January, telling us that E. and G-. may be looked for 
in England by the close of this week. I suppose we 
can hardly expect to see them here for a week or two 
yet, as from what you say they will have something to 
do before visiting us. I need not say how glad we 
shall be to welcome them. I hope you have granted 
both the young men such leave of absence as will 
enable them to stay a few weeks with us — the longer 
the better; but I sometimes think you are a little 
impatient if every one is not hard at work. 

"You may notice by the papers that I spoke a week 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 311 

past yesterday on the Game question. Some praise, 
others blame. I am satisfied that, as a Chamber of 
Agriculture, we did quite right." 

" Uth Feb. 1871. 

" I was in town last Wednesday, and had to remain 
all night, so I was much astonished on my return home 
on Thursday morning to find that my two nephews had 
arrived the previous evening. I should have liked to 
have been at home when they arrived, but P. met them 
at the station. I was delighted to see your son, and to 
renew my acquaintance with G. After I came home 
we took a turn to Dirleton and the sea, as they had 
already been over the farm. On Friday we went to 
Haddington, and on Saturday to Elphinstone. Sunday 
was a very stormy day, so we were not much out, and 
on Monday morning (yesterday) they left by first train 
to Liverpool. We expect them back in a fortnight 
or so." 

In my father's speech, above referred to, at a meeting 
of the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture, he alluded to 
the former agitation for the total abolition of the Game 
Laws. He had for some years, he said, shared, in this 
labour, but it became obvious that the great majority 
of farmers did not approve of that remedy. They 
merely wished to obtain a joint right with the landlord 
to the game on their farms. In England the game by 
law belonged at present to the occupant of the land 
unless he chose to let it back to the owner, but as 
almost all landlords insisted on making this a part of 
the arrangements when letting farms, practically the 
farmers were no better off than they were previously. 
It was evident from this that a joint-right with land- 



312 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

lords to the game would have the same result. 
Members of Parliament might he entitled to say, 
" First agree amongst yourselves before coming to us." 
He more than suspected that only a very few Members 
of Parliament were really in earnest on this question : 
but however that might be, so long as that Chamber 
itself was divided into two nearly equal hostile factions, 
besides representatives of the extremes on both sides, 
all insisting on their own views, it was obvious that 
matters would remain pretty much as they were. The 
directors had held a meeting to consider whether an 
agreement could not be arrived at on which farmers 
could unite, though it might not be theoretically the 
best possible remedy. They had met with an earnest 
desire to arrive at some such conclusion, and for the 
sake of agreement had all yielded somewhat of their 
own opinions. They had resolved: — 1st, "That the 
legislative reform now to be sought should be confined 
to hares and rabbits ; 2d, That hares and rabbits should 
be dealt with by removing them from the game list, 
and giving the occupier of the land, or any one resident 
on the farm having his authority, the inalienable right 
to kill the hares and rabbits on the land occupied by 
him/' This resolution was an amalgamation of Mr. 
M'Lagan's and Mr. Loch's bills. With respect to Mr. 
Loch's bill some of them had doubts if it was consistent 
with good morals to allow tenants to break with im- 
punity engagements binding themselves to preserve 
hares and rabbits. He was one of those who looked 
with extreme distrust upon all laws which free persons 
from bargains voluntarily entered into ; still we had a 
few such laws, and this was one perhaps as necessary 
as any already on the Statute-book. No sane man 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 313 

would ever enter into an engagement to preserve hares, 
or agree never to claim damages for crops destroyed by 
game, unless he was first privately assured that such a 
thing would never be allowed to take place. Hitherto 
many tenants had trusted their whole fortunes to the 
good faith of their landlords ; if their resolution became 
law, landlords would only have to trust to the honesty 
of tenants whether a few hares, less or more, be found 
on their estates. The resolutions were certainly mode- 
rate enough, and yet if they became law he believed 
that the evils of the Game Laws, so far as tenant- 
farmers were concerned, would be substantially re- 
dressed. But it would not do simply to pass resolutions: 
they must be ready to seize every opportunity of 
choosing their Parliamentary representatives, and to 
select those and those only who were at one with them. 
Farmers had hitherto been a rope of sand, but if they 
could only obtain unity amongst themselves there was 
no necessity for them suffering under any grievance. 

My father never ceased to think the total abolition 
of the Game Laws desirable, and was here endeavour- 
ing to obtain this small modification of these laws only 
because he knew that to obtain their abolition was at 
present hopeless. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

The feudal system of land-tenure has been tried in almost every 
European country, and it has been found wanting everywhere. — C. S. 
Parnell, M.P. 

It is bad when one can be robbed in due course of law, but it is 
greatly worse when one actually is.— J. S. Mill. 

In 1869 or 1870 my father had made an offer for a 
new lease of Fenton Barns, to commence at that date. 
He had offered a higher rent than he had hitherto paid, 
as, from the improvements he had made on the land 
since obtaining the last lease, he was aware that it 
would not be got at the same rent as formerly. The 
reply which he received was to the effect that he would 
be informed a year before the expiry of his lease 
whether or not Lady Mary and Mr. Msbet Hamilton 
intended to renew it. After the election of 1865 my 
father was aware that it was improbable that the lease of 
Fenton Barns would be renewed, but if any doubt on the 
subject had still existed in his mind, it was pretty nearly 
dispelled when he received the note containing this 
announcement. In March 1872 Mr. Msbet Hamilton 
tried to pick a quarrel with my father, probably in the 
vain endeavour to give an appearance of justification 
to the act which had long been resolved upon. A year 
previously there had been published in the Journal of 
the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England an article 
entitled "Some Features of Scottish Agriculture," 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 3 1 5 

wherein it was stated, upon my father's authority, that 
only a small proportion of tenants in East Lothian con- 
trived to renew their leases. At a meeting of the 
United East Lothian Agricultural Society, Mr. Msbet 
Hamilton, in a violent speech, said that this statement 
was " a downright libel, and nothing else." Several 
people whispered to my father to sit still and take no 
notice, but it was not his way to refrain from speaking 
for fear of what any man could do. He got up and 
calmly said that every word he had told the writer of 
the article was quite true. There were only about 
twenty farms in the county which had been in the 
hands of the same families within his recollection. 
The information he had given to the gentleman was 
thoroughly consistent with fact. 
Three days afterwards he writes : — 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 
"Fenton Barns, Drem, 12th March 1872. 
" I write to tell you that yesterday I received a letter 
from our factor, intimating that Mr. Hamilton and Lady 
Mary did not intend to renew my lease here, or of the 
lands at Dirleton ; so the reign of the Hopes at Fenton 
Barns will speedily expire. They have an undoubted 
right to choose their own tenants, and if they think I 
have devoted too much time to public matters, all I can 
say is, Where are the lands that have been better 
managed, or are in higher condition ? They will get 
this farm in as rich a manurial condition as any farm 
was ever given up to a new tenant. I am sorry for it, 
solely on the ground that it will remove me from many 
old associations which are hard to break ; however, we 
all take it with great good- humour. We shall require 



316 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

to look out for a farm for P., but I will not again 
engage in business ; I can live comfortably without it. 
I am afraid Charles and you will feel this more than 
we do, but there is no occasion for your annoying your- 
selves that there cannot be two independent men on 
the Dirleton estate. I could not have acted otherwise 
than I have done and retained my own self-respect. 
It occurs to me that H. has never seen Fenton Barns. 
Could you not come this summer, and bring her with 
you ? Surely you could spare a few weeks to visit for 
the last time the old homestead. Do try ; it would 
give us all such pleasure." 

He writes to a friend in reply to an expression of 
sympathy : — 

" Fenton Barns, 11th March 1872. 

" I thank you sincerely for your warm sympathy in 
the pain I feel in being compelled to leave Fenton 
Barns. It is true I have for years expected that this 
would be the result of my public conduct, which was 
simply unavoidable. Sometimes I thought it possible 
that having, like the Northern Farmer, " done my duty 
by the land," my other sins might be overlooked, but 
it has not had that effect, and the associations of a life- 
time, intensified through two previous generations, are 
now to be severed. Still I cannot forget the great 
kindness of Lady Mary's mother, the late Mrs. Ferguson, 
when struggling to get my head above water, and the 
still greater kindness of Mr. Nisbet to my father. I am 
quite indifferent to my dismissal except as a matter of 
feeling, and there is nothing I have ever said or done 
which I in the slightest degree repent of, or would con- 
sent to change if offered the fee-simple of this parish." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 317 



FROM MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" Hamilton, Ont., 31st March 1872. 

"My dear George, — Yesterday's English mail 
brought us your letter of the 12th inst., informing us 
that Mr. Hamilton and Lady Mary did not intend to 
renew your lease for Fenton Barns or the lands at 
Dirleton. ... I am glad they have put it in the way 
they have done. It was not that their rent was not 
paid regularly, nor that it was too low, nor that the 
farm was not well managed, nor that you refused to 
accept any particular conditions as to the holding of 
the lands. It is simply put on the ground that they 
won't have you as a tenant, and there let the matter 
rest. As to your having devoted too much time to 
public matters, that is none of their business. Their 
interests as landlords were in no way compromised by 
what you did. Your rent was punctually paid. Your 
farm was well managed, and was well known to have 
been so, both on your and on this side of the Atlantic. 
You have made money out of the place ; but you have 
your own skill and attention to your business to thank 
for that ; and where you made money, others in similar 
circumstances might have lost it. ... I hold it to be 
no vanity when I say that your tenancy of Fenton 
Barns has made the name of the Dirleton estate known 
far and wide, where formerly it was unknown and 
unheard of. 

" . . . Of course the breaking up of so many time- 
hallowed associations as are linked around the old home 
and the parish churchyard cannot fail to leave a pang 
behind in the minds of both Charles and myself. . . . 



318 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

But, after all, it is perhaps just as well as it is. I 
would have regretted if you had sacrificed in any way 
an atom of your own self-respect, if it had brought in 
return, not only the lease of Fenton Barns, but a lease 
of the whole Dirleton estate." 

The " eviction." as it was generally termed, was com- 
mented upon in nearly every newspaper in the kingdom, 
and in many beyond it, and was universally condemned 
by the Liberal press ; even some Tory newspapers ad- 
mitted that it was unjustifiable. 

The following letter from the President of the Royal 
Danish Agricultural Society appeared in the columns 
of the North British Agriculturist: — "In the long list 
of celebrated English and Scottish farmers there is 
a name known by the great number of continental 
farmers who have looked out for information, in their 
doings, to Great Britain. It is that of Mr. George 
Hope at Fenton Barns. Mr. Hope is in every respect 
a European man. He has a claim to be honoured by 
us continental people more even than by your English 
and Scottish men ; for we are foreigners to him — 
strangers whom he sees once in his life, and never more, 
and who never have the opportunity of showing him a 
single mark of gratitude after having left his hospitable 
home. . . . In 1869, during a short stay in Scotland, I 
wished to have some questions thoroughly answered in 
a brief time. I could only then obtain a few words of 
introduction from a gentleman who knew Mr. Hope 
very little. I went out to Fenton Barns . . . and 
though entirely a stranger, met with one of those recep- 
tions which it is impossible to forget. . . . 

" I was told that there were some rumours that Mr. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 319 

Hope had cause to fear that the lease of Eenton Barns 
would not be renewed on account of the different views 
held by the landlord, Mr. Nisbet Hamilton, and Mr. 
Hope, chiefly upon political questions. I could but 
answer : ' My dear sir, it will be impossible for Mr. 
Nisbet Hamilton not to renew the lease, after what we 
know of Mr. Hope on the Continent for more than 
thirty years. No Scottish landlord would be able to 
turn this man out in defiance of public opinion. . . . 
I still venture to say, it is impossible that in the year 
1872 Mr. Nisbet Hamilton can turn out Mr. George 
Hope ; it would be an insult more to the landlords than 
to the farmers that Mr. George Hope, the man whom I 
call your and our benefactor, should not be allowed to 
have his own views with regard to the management of 
the properties in your beautiful country, nor openly to 
express them. ... I should have neglected my duty 
if, in the name of that legion of continental farmers 
who look up to Mr. George Hope with feelings of the 
highest esteem and gratitude, I had not protested 
against treatment which is very different indeed to 
what we are accustomed to hear from Old England. — 
I am yours truly, E. Tesdorpf, 

Ourupgaard, on the island of 
Falster, Denmark." 

" If Mr. Nisbet Hamilton had wished to do you an 
honour," writes one, "and give effect to your liberal 
views, he could not have acted more wisely for those 
purposes. I look upon you as upon one who has won 
a victory, not suffered a defeat/' 

" It was to me no surprise," writes another ; " for Mr. 
Bundas would have stopped the Eeform Bill of Lord 
Grey, like Mrs. Partington, with his broom. . . . Like 



320 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

the Bourbons, he has learnt nothing and forgotten 
nothing in the long space of more than forty years, 
but still thinks, as he did then, that the world was 
made for him and such as he." 

" It is to be regretted," writes another, " that there 
are so many real sycophants among the farmers. These 
men mislead the lairds as to the state of public feeling ; 
and when, for example, you see Lord Dalhousie's 
tenants giving him a dinner, it is less marvellous, 
though not less indecent, to find him taking that 
opportunity of lecturing them on the Game Laws. 
That is the sort of thing that makes the existence in 
this century of JSTisbet Hamiltons possible." 

" My wrath at Mr. Hamilton is passing away," writes 
another, "in the rejoicing I now have at the richly- 
merited laudation of Mr. Hope that his tyranny is 
educing. Our valued friend appears to me like a con- 
queror receiving an ovation, — what he is enduring 
calling forth the open expression of admiration and 
respect which all who knew him felt ; while his land- 
lord is like a contemptible captive dragged into pro- 
minence only to enhance the triumph." 

But there were not wanting those who approved of 
Mr. Nisbet Hamilton's action. This is an example of 
the sort of thing they wrote : — " There does not seem 
to be much hardship in asking Mr. Hope to leave, 
seeing that he has made so much money on Fenton 
Barns that he has lately purchased a large landed 
estate for himself. We don't see why he should object 
to go and live on his own estate in order that some 
other equally good man may get a turn at the appar- 
ently money-making farm of Fenton Barns. He may 
be a very good farmer — we have no doubt he is so — 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 321 

but his landlord will get a hundred in Scotland as good 
as he, and if he desires a change he is in every sense 
entitled to have it." Mr. Nisbet Hamilton's apologists 
usually sneered at the " good bargain" which my father 
was supposed to have had in Fenton Barns, and their 
remarks were apparently based upon the notion that a 
farmer has no right to make money, and that what he 
makes is so much robbed from his landlord. It has 
been indicated in these pages that the lands at different 
times purchased by my father were speculations rather 
than investments of his clear gains, and it appears to 
me that what money he did make out of Fenton Barns 
was earned hardly enough. " The apparently money- 
making farm" had wellnigh ruined the two preceding 
generations. When my great-grandfather entered it 
a great part of it had actually been waste land, " a 
moorish sand covered by furze bushes," in reclaiming 
which the money made by him elsewhere was swallowed 
up. My grandfather laboured at the " apparently 
money-making farm" all his life, and, as my father 
often said, " he never made a sixpence." For the first 
ten years that my father farmed it, it had seemed to 
him to be almost hopeless that he should ever make 
anything of it, and for twenty years he had patiently 
laboured at it with very little success. He says: — 
" Had I not got a new lease in 1852, 1 should have left 
without making a sixpence, and the landlord would 
have reaped the benefit of all my expenditure during 
the previous twenty years." It has been seen that he 
drained the farm at his own expense, making and 
selling tiles to enable him to do so ; he had also limed 
it at the cost of about £7 an acre, and for many years 
his annual expenditure on manures and feeding- stuffs 

x 



322 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

had been from £2200 to £2500 per annum (on a farm 
of 670 acres). Certainly if there was any "good bargain" 
in the case, the owners of Fenton Barns did not come 
off second-best; they received back their farm of a 
very different value from what it had been, I do not 
say when first a Hope entered it, but when my father 
himself entered it. He had, by his own labour during 
five-and-forty years, transformed it from something 
little better than a moor into one of the best farms in 
a county famous for its agriculture. Yet there were 
those who thought that " if Mr. Nisbet Hamilton de- 
sired a change he was in every sense entitled to have 
it," and it was " not in the bond" that my father was 
to be permitted to spend the few remaining years of 
his life in the place for which he and his had done so 
much. 

In the autumn of 1872 my father purchased the 
estate of Bordlands (480 acres), in the county of 
Peebles. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

"Fenton Barns, Dec. Ylih, 1872. 
" C, P., and I were at Bordlands last week for a 
couple of nights, and I got a good look over it, and 
came home quite pleased. Our crop (on Fenton Barns) 
is turning out very badly, and my loss will be heavy, 
but it cannot be helped. You will see Mr. Barclay has 
been elected M.P. for Forfarshire. I was asked to 
stand, but declined. I thought I would be too late in 
the field ; but Mr. Barclay came after, and has won 
easily. However, I do not regret it ; there is much to 
do here before Whitsunday, and last crop being so bad, 
I am indifferent at present as to going into Parliament." 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 323 

On the 28th of April 1873, a few days before leaving 
Fenton Barns, my father was entertained at dinner in 
the George Hotel, Haddington. The applications for 
tickets were numerous, but there was accommodation 
only for 120 gentlemen. Captain Kinloch, younger of 
Gilmerton, presided on the occasion. In proposing my 
father's health, the chairman said he might briefly state 
why it was that they were there that evening — what it 
was they so highly honoured in Mr. Hope. " It was, 
in a word, his honest independence in matters social, 
ecclesiastical, and political. . . . Throughout Scotland, 
and very much farther afield, Mr. Hope was regarded, 
and with justice, as a true representative of the Scottish 
tenant-farmer — so much so, that it was very generally 
felt that when Parliament set itself seriously to con- 
sider the Land question as affecting Scotland, the great 
practical knowledge, the personal experience, and the 
earnest advocacy of Mr. Hope would be invaluable in 
the discussions which would arise upon that compli- 
cated subject. . . . Whether it might be the immediate 
cause or not, it was the fact that, since public attention 
had been directed to the case, public attention had 
settled itself down in such a manner on certain phases 
of the Land question as to have secured for them a 
thorough investigation. . . ." Turning to Mr. Hope, 
the chairman then said : " On behalf of this meeting, 
and on behalf of many absent friends, allow me to 
tender you our heartfelt sympathy. In completing 
that sacrifice — for it is nothing else — which you are 
called upon to make, you no doubt enjoy the supreme 
satisfaction of an approving conscience ; and it may be 
gratifying to you to be assured that your friends and 
neighbours, amongst whom you have passed your life, 



324 MEMOIE OF GEOKGE HOPE. 

would not have one single public act of yours undone, 
or one public utterance unsaid, if only upon such con- 
sideration you could remain amongst them. We must 
always regard you as one of ourselves, for you are 
bound to us by ties which mere change of residence 
can never sever. We hope and expect to see you 
frequently amongst us as of yore, and to benefit, as we 
have hitherto done, by that kind and judicious counsel 
which has always been put so freely at our disposal. 
Great as they are, I have purposely avoided alluding to 
your hereditary claims upon the sympathy of your 
neighbours, preferring to base my argument upon con- 
siderations personal to yourself. I do not speak of the 
admiration of your intimate friends, nor of the affection 
of those who have been admitted within your social 
circle ; but I would ask you to rest assured that, by 
your honest and independent life, and your genuine 
probity, you have, as you deserve, won for yourself the 
regard, the respect, and the esteem of all classes in the 
community of this your native county of East Lothian, 
— in token of which I have now formally to intimate 
to you that it is our intention to present you with your 
portrait. We know that you will never require to be 
reminded of East Lothian, or of the friends you leave 
behind you ; but it may be a drop of comfort in the 
cup to reflect that the forthcoming portrait, and an 
accompanying present which we hope to add to it, will 
be, to those who come after you, mementos of Eenton 
Barns which, for your sake, they must always regard 
with as much satisfaction as if it had been the oldest 
and most noble title in the land." 

My father, who was received with prolonged cheers, 
replied as follows : * I am quite at a loss for words to 



MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 325 

express my deep sense of the great compliment you 
have now paid me. I can only thank you, Captain 
Kinloch, for the honour you have done me in presiding 
on this occasion, for your able and eloquent speech, 
and for the kind things you have been pleased to say 
of me. And to you, Messrs. croupiers and gentlemen, 
for the very cordial reception you have given to the 
toast, I can only say from the bottom of my heart I 
thank you ; and what can I say more to the numerous 
subscribers who have so generously united to present 
my family with my portrait ? . . . When I think of all 
these unmerited kindnesses I am lost in amazement. 
The idea that I should ever live to see such honours 
heaped upon me never once crossed my brain. If I did 
not feel that it would be great presumption on my part, 
I should say at once you are quite mistaken, and that 
I am not deserving of these great marks of your respect. 
I can only admit I have tried to the best of my humble 
abilities to discharge all the duties that have fallen to 
my lot, which I am confident every one round this 
table has also done. ... I believe your kindness has 
chiefly been excited by your sympathy with me in 
having to leave Fenton Barns. ... I can honestly 
affirm I have tried to farm Fenton Barns as if it had 
been my own property, sparing neither labour nor 
expense to increase its fertility ; and I think it will 
not be denied I have added somewhat to its value, and 
that it now compares favourably with many farms 
formerly considered much superior to it. (Cheers.) 
Perhaps I have had too much pride and pleasure in the 
place, and my own doings in it, and events have shown 
I was wrong in fondly anticipating that I might be 
permitted to die where I was born, and have spent 



326 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

what must prove to be by much the greater part of my 
life, and around which so many heartfelt associations 
were clustered. I had thought this might possibly be, 
seeing I have never had the slightest difference with 
landlord, factor, or any one else. You may easily 
imagine then that when I got notice that my lease was 
not to be renewed, I at first painfully felt the blow. 
... I have never been out of the county so long as a 
month but once in my life, and no other absence has 
exceeded a fortnight. My life, therefore, has been 
before you, and you may believe this token of your 
approbation is very pleasing to me. . . . The extraordi- 
nary sympathy I have received, not only from my per- 
sonal friends, but from many others I have never seen 
or aven heard of previously — I may say the discovery 
of such a host of friends whom I never otherwise should 
have known — has revealed to me that my life cannot 
have been altogether useless, and this almost fully 
compensates me for having to leave you all. (Cheers.) 
If politics have had anything to do with it (but recollect 
I do not say they have), I beg to remark that I have 
taken a deep interest in all political questions since I 
was a boy, and, in fact, I was for years objector-general 
against all fictitious votes in the Registration Courts 
of this county. I became so shortly after I attained 
manhood, and a very grave offence this was to many, 
though it has long been forgotten, and happily such an 
office is not now required. The truth is, I consider it 
a solemn duty, incumbent on every one in this consti- 
tutional kingdom, to consider all public questions, and 
conscientiously to act on such opinions as he may form, 
never for a moment listening to either private friend- 
ship or interest. (Cheers.) If I had not done so I could 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 327 

not have retained my own self-respect, neither, I am 
sure, should I have seen round this table so many- 
friends whose political opinions differ widely from my 
own. I am sure you all believe I have at least 
endeavoured to take a broad view on all public ques- 
tions, and if satisfied that these were founded on sound 
principles, and that their adoption was for the public 
good, I have unhesitatingly given them all the support 
in my power, it being nothing to me who was opposed 
to them. I trust that the liberty I have claimed for 
myself I have always been ready to give to others, never 
dreaming that I alone was infallible, or that wisdom 
was to die with me. Our Father in Heaven is the only 
Lord of the conscience, let us all then be loyal to his 
voice within us, be the consequences what they may. 
(Cheers.) In closing, I trust you will excuse me saying 
a word to my agricultural friends. I have suffered with 
you in the disastrous harvest of 1872. Nothing like 
it has occurred in my experience. ... I sincerely trust 
that more fruitful seasons are in store for you, and that 
you may soon be able to look back on your great losses 
as on a great calamity which you have been able to 
survive. Another crop will sever my connection with 
this county, and I may say with arable husbandry; 
but I firmly believe a new era is about to open to prac- 
tical agriculture. The laws regulating the connection 
between landlord and tenant require amendment, and 
they must speedily be changed, alike for the interests 
of landlords, tenants, and the general community. 
When your property meets with the full recognition it 
is entitled to, and your capital, whether in or on the 
heritable property of others, shall be no longer liable to 
confiscation, either at the natural or enforced conclusion 



328 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

of tenancies — then, but not till then, I take the liberty 
of advising you to spare no expense in making two 
blades of grass grow where one grew before. I again 
thank you very warmly for all your kindness, and beg 
to wish each and all health, happiness, and many 
prosperous days." (Loud cheers.) 

On the 1st of May 1873, my father and his family 
left Fenton Barns. 

A few weeks afterwards my father was entertained 
at luncheon in the Merchants' Hall, Edinburgh, and 
presented with a testimonial to which 350 persons had 
subscribed. On one of the articles comprised in the 
testimonial there was inscribed : " This service of plate 
is presented to George Hope, Esquire, on his removal 
from Fenton Barns, by a large number of friends in all 
parts of the kingdom, as a testimonial to his eminence 
as an agriculturist, his high personal character, and his 
varied and long-continued public services." 

Mr. M'Neel Caird occupied the chair at the presenta- 
tion, and about 150 ladies and gentlemen were present. 

The Chairman said that by Mr George Hope's skill 
and enterprise he had made Fenton Barns a familiar 
name, and a place of pilgrimage for men of all nations 
who desired to see the best practice of modern agricul- 
ture. . . . Nor had he been a mere silent worker. He 
had been the outspoken advocate of progress all his life. 
Sound and accurate in his views, clear in statement, 
temperate in expression, he was one of the best models 
of an agricultural writer. Firm as a rock when truth 
and principle were involved, he was never dogmatic, 
never offensive, and withal was one of the most modest 
of men. . . . He had in truth won and kept the love of 
all, save possibly of one, who, instead of being proud to 



MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 329 

have such a man on his domains, might have felt over- 
shadowed by the world-wide reputation of his tenant. 
... If a just share were given to agriculture of those 
distinctions which were chiefly reserved for other ser- 
vices less essential to the best interests of the State, it 
would not have been left for private citizens thus to 
supply the honours which were justly due by the 
nation at large. There was still in this country a great 
respect for hereditary claims, even when they rest on 
opinion alone ; and the heart of the country was pro- 
foundly stirred when these claims were set aside in the 
case of a tenant-farmer so eminent and meritorious, 
without any ground or pretext that could bear to be 
avowed. The confiscation, by the landlord, of tenant's 
improvements was, in this case, on a scale of such 
magnitude as to shock the conscience of the country. 
Besides the great value of Mr. Hope's permanent im- 
provements, for which not one farthing was allowed 
him, his expenditure on manures and feeding-stuffs 
alone, which every farmer knows to be the best enrich- 
ments of the soil, was more than £9000 during the last 
five years of his possession. This event, too, came at a 
critical time. Although thousands of humbler men 
had suffered under the land-tenancy laws, there was a 
disposition to deny that these laws were as bad in 
action as in theory. Just then Mr. Nisbet Hamilton 
leapt into public notice to supply a flagrant illustration 
of the iniquity of these laws. He brought before the 
public in a concrete and intelligible form the inevitable 
tendency of these laws to hinder the best cultivation 
and restrict the growth of food. ... At last the head 
of the Conservative party assembled the representa- 
tives of the English counties, and counselled them to 



330 MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 

acquiesce in the principle of compensation for tenants' 
unexhausted improvements, and to take their stand on 
freedom of contract. The ground which has been thus 
taken up by Mr. Disraeli had been chosen with con- 
summate skill, but this was not the time or the place 
to discuss it. Enough for our present purpose that the 
seed sown by the martyrdom of Fenton Barns thus 
promised a not distant harvest. The chairman con- 
cluded by presenting the testimonial. 

My father said : " Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentle- 
men, — Would I were capable of thanking you in some- 
thing like adequate terms for this magnificent testi- 
monial. From the bottom of my heart I can assure 
you I feel deeply grateful. . . . We certainly do some- 
times meet with very unexpected experiences in life. 
. . . My friends in East Lothian paid me a very great 
compliment on my leaving the county, — a compliment 
of which I am proud, and which I shall remember as 
long as I live, and, I doubt not, my children after me, 
but for this I considered myself mainly indebted to 
long personal intercourse with most of the donors, and 
the mutual kindly feelings generated thereby, coupled, 
it might be, with feelings of regret for the circumstances 
under which I had to leave my old home. But this 
strong ebullition of feeling for and sympathy with me, 
by some hundreds of persons, many of whom I am 
totally unacquainted with, is to me much more surpris- 
ing, and for which I am at a loss to account. . . . 

" I am glad to tell you that the pain of the snapping 
of the bonds which bound me to Fenton Barns is gone, 
or almost gone. I have got a pleasant residence and 
a nice farm within nineteen miles of Edinburgh ; and I 
find there is something so enjoyable in farming my own 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 331 

land, that if it were not for my removal from old friends, 
I should consider it the best possible thing that could 
have happened to me. When I add to this your unex- 
ampled kindness, and the extraordinary sympathy I 
have received from so many in every quarter of the globe, 
I cannot for a moment admit that I am the least of a 
martyr. ... I only regret for my landlord's own sake 
his attempting to fix a stigma on me at a public dinner 
at Haddington, when I believe my dismissal had been 
long previously resolved upon. After his indignant 
denials as to the changes of tenantry which I said had 
taken place in East Lothian within my recollection, 
I certainly hoped such changes would have become 
matters of history. But since that, less than eighteen 
months ago, at least eighteen changes have occurred, or 
are occurring. No one can regret more than I do this 
painful corroboration of the truth of the statement 
made. Doubtless many poor tenants who could not 
well afford it have been turned out of their farms simply 
on the score of their honest difference of opinion from 
their landlords on political questions, while others, for 
the sake of bread, have betrayed their principles. While 
I hope the Ballot will cure this, I strongly reprobate 
such conduct, and affirm that whoever is guilty of caus- 
ing it is guilty of a crime. I do not care who the 
defender may be, — he has no right to endeavour to sear 
the conscience and degrade a brother by either bribery 
or violence. Men who have been so treated, and who 
have remained true to their convictions, are real martyrs, 
and are far more entitled to sympathy than I am. I 
conclude by again warmly thanking you for your great 
kindness. I shall ever cherish these marks of it, and 
when I shall have 'passed on' there will be a beautiful 



332 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

piece of plate to each member of my family to keep 
them in remembrance of the honour done this day to 
their father. . . ." 

Some months afterwards my father was presented 
with his portrait at a luncheon in Haddington. On it 
there was inscribed : " Presented to George Hope, on 
his leaving Fenton Barns, by his brother farmers and 
friends, as a token of the high esteem in which he was 
held in the county of Haddington." 

The following statement appeared in the Graphic 
some time after my father had got notice to leave Fenton 
Barns : " It was because Mr. Nisbet Hamilton's views 
on the tenure and occupation of land are so opposed to 
those entertained by Mr. Hope, and the conditions of 
his lease are imperative, that the landlord thought it 
would be a mockery to ask Mr. Hope to adhibit his 
signature to the document." " A mockery it certainly 
would have been," writes a brother farmer, "if the 
document were tyrannical or unjust ; but if the form 
of contract were just and reasonable, Mr. Hamilton 
could have no reason for concluding that his tenant 
would refuse to accept it. . . . In my opinion the 
excuse put forward for the landlord makes his case 
somewhat worse than it was before." 

Lady Mary and Mr. Msbet Hamilton did not pro- 
bably imagine that, by turning my father out of Fenton 
Barns, they were doing their utmost to hasten a time 
when it will cease to be in the power of landlords 
legally to confiscate the property of their tenants. 

Although the Agricultural Holdings Act, since 
passed, is practically useless, the principle that a 
tenant has a moral claim to any property he may leave 
behind him has been conceded by a Tory Government, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 333 

and some measure to secure him such may be hoped 
for at no very distant date. 

Fenton Barns was re-let at a great increase of rent, in 
consequence of the improvements which my father had 
made on it. In a letter from him which appeared in 
the Times in December 1874 he writes : " I have known 
three adjoining farms on the same estate where the 
leases expired in the same year, and two were re-let to 
the old tenants, one at a little above, the other at a 
little below, the old rents ; but the third [this was 
Fenton Barns] was let to a new tenant at an increased 
rent of fifty per cent., and this large increase was mainly 
due to the expenditure of the former occupier, and to 
his keeping up its condition to the last. ... It is 
my decided conviction that a measure of tenant-right, 
based on the principle of the Lincolnshire custom, is 
imperatively called for in the interest of practical 
agriculture, and that it would prove alike beneficial to 
landlords, tenants, and the great consuming masses of 
the kingdom." 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

Why do they oppose us in our meetings in Aberdeen and elsewhere, and 
curse, and swear, and use all manner of filthy communication, and are 
ready to stone us in the streets ? And none more found so doing than that 
young fry and spawn of the priesthood who are bred at your nurseries of 
learning. Robert Barclay of Urie. 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" Bordlands, Noblehouse, 2,1st Sept. 1873. 
" I am quite ashamed to see that your graphic letter 
of the 20th July is still unacknowledged. Somehow I 
have not yet quite settled down here ; at least I feel a 
strong reluctance to write letters that can by any possi- 
bility be avoided. I think if I was once quit of the 
bother and anxiety of the crops at Fenton Barns and 
Dirleton, I would have both time and inclination to 
write friendly letters. It has been painful to leave 
Fenton Barns, and yet I am delighted with this place, 
and the country about it, and, on the whole, I am 
satisfied it is the best thing that could have happened. 
There is a freedom in living on your own land that I 
never before experienced, and a feeling that I had strong 
as a boy has come back to me, viz., I would rather farm 
fifty acres of my oWn land than occupy five hundred as 
a tenant. The people here all want to be very friendly. 
... I was much pleased by your vivid description of 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 335 

Hugh Bertram's visit to you and to George Brown's 
farm. Hugh is right about manure. It is the first 
requisite in farming ; as Demosthenes said of action in 
oratory — it is first, second, and third. ... P. and H. 
came back from Fenton Barns last night. There are 
still three days' 'leading in' there and at Dirleton. We 
have had a long tedious harvest — rain almost every 
day ; but still the crops have been got in in fair con- 
dition after all, and though there is a little, there is not 
much, sprout. I think the wheat is a poor crop ; barley 
and oats good, and potatoes also good, if the disease 
does not spread. I have advertised all my potatoes to 
be sold by auction on the 4th October, on the fields as 
they stand, together with the grain crops at Dirleton. I 
will write and tell you the prices, and the amount of 
the roup-roll. ... By the way, Mr. Eeid, the artist, 
has been staying here, busy on my portrait, for the last 
three weeks, and it is not nearly done yet. He is 
bestowing an immensity of work on it. As he says, he 
does not believe in simply giving a likeness, but it must 
be a work of art to last for ages. He certainly puts on 
plenty of paint. . . . A. H. will probably have told you 
of the silver plate and timepiece I got at Edinburgh. 
The different pieces are very handsome. . . . There is 
still some £300 to be laid out. It was wished to pre- 
sent me with a portrait of my wife. She has hitherto 
firmly resisted this ; but I have some hopes that she 
may relent at last." 

"Bordlands, Jan. 1874. 

" We are now in the middle of the first month of the 

new year, and I have never yet written to wish you a 

Happy New Year and many returns of the season, 

which I now heartily do to H. and you, and your chil- 



336 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

dren and grandchildren. We are all, I am glad to say, 
in good health here, living quietly and happily. I 
find there is a great deal to be done here in the way of 
improvements on the property. We have built two 
cottages, costing (with the carriages and stones) each 
£200, or £400 for the pair, and I shall require to build 
another this spring. Then I must make a consider- 
able change in the offices, which I intend to do this 
summer; also the fences require a very considerable 
outlay, but we are cutting and using our own wood 
for that purpose. Then there are 20 or 30 acres of 
wood which should be planted up with Scotch firs and 
spruces. I intend also to plant a lot of willows, besides 
an acre or two of new plantation. There are several 
fields requiring drainage to make them complete, and 
we have several men busy at this as well as at the 
fences. A considerable number of fields also require 
lime ; at least I think they would pay to lime, and I 
will try this as soon as we can get at it. To get funds 
for all this I have sold the land I had at Biggar. The 
season hitherto has been singularly mild and open. 

"... When the Edinburgh Exhibition opens I shall 
send you any paper that has a criticism on my portrait. 
I shall be disappointed if it is not considered first-rate 
as a work of art. 

" It is singular, after having spent so many years of 
my life going every Friday to Haddington, that I don't 
miss the accustomed day at all, but, on the whole, am 
quite pleased at the change. It is to me a great relief 
that I am under no obligation to any man for a farm. 

"... I have been reading with great pleasure the 
Life of Mary Somerville. You should read it. She was 
staying at Archerfield with Mrs. Ferguson in the spring 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 337 

of 1844, and she came to Fenton Barns and called on 
me ; I remember her well. [My father always regretted 
that he had not known, when she called on him, that 
she was the Mrs. Somerville ; she had introduced her- 
self as a friend of Mrs. Ferguson's.] I sent you a 
paper with a speech I made when in Aberdeen, in 
November, attending the meeting of the Scottish Uni- 
tarian Association. I enjoyed my visit very much, and 
met a number of Aberdeen celebrities." 

In his speech in Aberdeen he said : — " ... I make 
bold to say that, in the pulpit and the press, if our 
opinions are not more openly advocated, that at least 
the leading principles of Calvinism, and what are 
known as orthodox or evangelical doctrines, are each 
succeeding year kept more and more in the background. 
I am not at all surprised that those should be in despair 
who really believe that the future fate of mankind — 
their eternal bliss or eternal woe — depends not on the 
faithful discharge of every duty in this world, but on 
a correct intellectual apprehension and acceptance of 
what they denominate the great scheme of salvation. 
I am not so much astonished that good Mr. Baird 
should devote half a million of pounds sterling to pro- 
pagate his belief, as that any professing to believe in 
the awful fate awaiting such an immense majority of 
his brothers and sisters can refrain from spending his 
substance and his life in trying to save some of them 
from what they consider certain doom. For my own 
part, nothing gives me so much joy, and makes me 
ever live in sunshine, as my firm conviction of the 
goodness and Fatherhood of God, that the human race 
are all His children, destined to a continued and ever- 
lasting increase of virtue and happiness, and an ever 

Y 



338 MEMOIK OF GEORGE HOPE. 

nearer and nearer approach to the excellencies of our 
heavenly Parent. Doubtless we all, more or less, re- 
quire to be purified by contrition from the stains of 
sin, arising from our unfaithfulness to conscience and 
our better nature, in our passage through this lower 
world. To what greater work can we devote ourselves 
than that of endeavouring to spread these noble ideas, 
so well fitted to produce an elevated religious character 
here, and the bright hopes of a future with the good 
and true of every name and nation ? It may be said 
that the orthodox doctrines are the teachings of the 
Bible ; but I affirm that they are not, and I am amazed 
how any one carefully perusing the Scriptures can pro- 
fess to find them there. Even when I believed in the 
plenary inspiration of the Bible, it was because I found 
the doctrines of Unitarian! sm there that I became what 
I am. It was only after that that I found, from read- 
ing Evans's Sketches of Religious Denominations, that 
there were people in the world with whom I could 
sympathise. I shall never forget the pain and distress 
I felt before making up my mind that it was my duty 
to sever myself from the Church of Scotland, though 
forty years have now elapsed since that took place. 
Now I rejoice that I am ever more and more able to 
contemplate God as a Being of infinite love, and not as 
an object of terror and perplexity." 

TO ME. ADAM HOPE. 

"Bordlands, 18th May 1874. 

" What has interested us most in your letter is the 

hope you express of being able, during this summer, to 

run across with a view to business, as well as to see us 

all once more. I do sincerely trust nothing will occur 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 339 

to prevent you, and that we shall have the great hap- 
piness of seeing you, and welcoming you to our new 
abode, which somehow I am quite delighted with, and 
scarcely ever think of Fenton Barns at all, and certainly 
not with regret. I suppose it is in vain to speak about 
it again ; but you know how very glad indeed we 
should be if you could prevail on H. to come with 
you. 

•".... The sheep stock never did better on the hills 
than they have done this year. Here we have kept 
fifty score with only 25 acres of turnips, having besides 
seventeen cows and cattle ; but we have used a large 
quantity of cake, besides from eight to ten tons of draff 
from Edinburgh weekly. The people here think this is 
extravagant, but already the good effects are evident 
from the greater greenness and growth of the grass. 
We are now quit of Fenton Barns. . . . The potatoes I 
kept have paid me much better than those sold by 
auction. We sold off the remainder of our stock at 
Haddington on the 8 th current. The steam -plough 
and engine sold for an old song ; the whole apparatus 
only fetching £120. As it cost fully £800 I expected 
£400 ; however, it cannot be helped now. The horses 
averaged £63 each; other things sold fairly. 

" On Saturday last my portrait came home from the 
Exhibition. It has been much admired there as a work 
of art, and I think, and all my family think, it is an 
admirable likeness, though a number of my friends say 
I am looking too serious, and that I should have had 
something else than an old greatcoat on. In this re- 
spect it differed much from the other portraits in the 
Exhibition, where all were in their best. My portrait 
is simply myself, and not a new coat that has been 



340 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

painted. . . . After next week I intend taking my wife, 
C, and M., with me in the dog-cart, and driving them 
to Innerleithen, Melrose, Jedburgh, and Kelso, staying 
a day here or there on the road as it pleases ns. I 
expect to enjoy it." 

The projected driving tour took place early in June. 
My father and the members of his family who accom- 
panied him spent a week in driving through the 
counties of Peebles, Koxburgh, and Selkirk, and were 
favoured with the most perfect weather that heart could 
desire. Whin, broom, and hawthorn were all in bloom, 
and the country could not have looked more beautiful. 
The travellers drove down the Tweed as far as Kelso, 
making acquaintance with that river from its source to 
within a few miles of where it falls into the sea. They 
visited the Abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso, and 
Jedburgh ; and, returning by way of Selkirk, explored 
the banks of the Yarrow. They carried with them 
an Ordnance Survey map ; and as my father liked to 
know the name of every farm-house which he passed, 
frequent stoppages were made in order to consult this 
oracle. This drive will ever be amongst the brightest 
recollections of those who participated in it. 

In the autumn of this year my father had the great 
pleasure of a visit of a few days from his brother 
Mr. Adam Hope. After his departure he writes to 
him : — 

" Bordlands, 26th Oct. 1874. 

" When you left on the 2 2d I felt very melancholy, 
thinking the chances were at least equal that we might 
never again meet in the body. However, your visit, 
though short, has been to me an intense enjoyment, 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 341 

and it has recalled to memory many events of long 
bypast years, some glad, some sorrowful, but the latter 
softened by the lapse of time." 



TO MRS. HOPE. 
" Boudlands, Noblehouse, 13th Dec. 1874. 

"This winter weather still continues. Last night 
the fall of snow was more than an inch, and again this 
forenoon it was snowing heavily. It takes all the time 
of the people here to feed the sheep with turnips, cake, 
etc. I am afraid the stock at Glencotho must be very 
ill off, unless the wind has cleared the snow from part 
of the hills. Here the roads are partly drifted up, but 
over all the ground the snow is six or eight inches 
deep. It is very wintry, and we miss you sorely. P. 
got home nicely yesterday. He says C. is much better. 
I wish the weather would moderate a little, and let 
her, and all of you, get home unharmed. P. says your 
portrait is done, but he does not know how often M. is 
expected to sit or stand. If the weather is at all 
favourable I shall be in town to-morrow about 12.15 
as usual, and shall at once make for your house. You 
know I am to dine at Mr. B.'s in the evening, and if 
nothing prevents I shall accompany you home at 10.55 
next day. If you think, either on M.'s account or on 
account of the weather, you had better remain until 
the end of the week, then let it be so. Doubtless we 
are very anxious to see you all at home again ; but 
that must not be considered if Mr. Cameron is not 
finished with M.'s portrait, and particularly if you 
think the exposure would, or might, be detrimental to 
C. . . . I have nothing to say, but felt I must write, as 



342 MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 

I am wearying to see you again. Best love to C. 
and M." 



TO ME. ADAM HOPE. 

" Bordlands, 30th Dec. 1874. 
"We have had a decidedly old-fashioned winter 
hitherto. It began on the 6th current. Yesterday 
morning the thermometer stood at 1J° below zero, 
which is the lowest point we have yet had. This 
weather is much against the sheep stock, particularly 
at Glencotho. The snow fell quietly at first to the 
depth of six inches ; then a slight thaw succeeded by 
severe frost hardened the top, so that the sheep were 
unable to break it to get down to the heather. How- 
ever, on Friday, the 11th, there was a high wind, which 
cleared the hill-tops, and portions exposed to the wind, 
so the sheep got a bite. P. was at Glencotho on the 
14th, and found the stock could live, so we have done 
nothing more, and the shepherd has not written again, 
at which I am thankful, as we have little food to send, 
and it is almost impossible to get it through the drifted 
roads. We have had more snow here than at Glen- 
cotho, and the sheep cannot get to the grass ; our 
turnips are being rapidly consumed in spite of the draff 
we use (eight tons weekly). The people here say it is 
the most severe storm that has been for forty years. 
[The snow was drifted to the depth of twelve feet in 
the roads in the neighbourhood of Bordlands, and for 
four days the district was cut off from all railway or 
postal communication.] 

"I have written a letter to the Times on Tenant 
Right, in reply to the Earl of Airlie. It might have 
been in yesterday's paper, but I have not heard whether 



MEMOIE OF GEOEGE HOPE. 343 

It has been printed. It is likely to be in the North 
British Agriculturist of this evening, or else next 
week." 

" IWh March 1875. 
" I send you a Scotsman, which shows what I was 
doing in London. Our interview with the Duke of 
Eichmond was on the whole satisfactory. Next day 
we again saw the Lord Advocate ; but I infer from 
what he said that the Government will only propose 
payment for unexhausted manures to tenants quitting 
their farms. We shall know to-day or to-morrow. On 
Friday evening I was in the House of Commons, below 
the gallery, for two or three hours, and saw a number 
of Members. . . . On Saturday I left London for 
Bolton, to see the Hon. John Young, who has been 
over in this country getting an engineer to deepen the 
river betwixt Montreal and Quebec. ... I left Bolton 
on Sunday at three o'clock, . . . and remained all night 
at Carlisle. On Monday I got to Edinburgh just in 
time for business I had there, and then home by the 
4.20 train. I never left home more reluctantly, and 
glad I was when again in my own house, though after 
all I had enjoyed myself very much." 

Letter to the Scotsman on the Agricultural 
Holdings (England) Bill. 

" BOKDLANDS, BY NOBLEHOUSE, 

April 8th, 1875. 

" In your leader of yesterday on the Agricultural 
Holdings (England) Bill, you state various reasons why 
the farmers of the kingdom regard it with indifference, 
aversion, or contempt ; but in doing so you wholly omit 



344 MEMOIE OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

what, it appears to me, must be their strongest reasons 
for so doing. You give two provisions of the Bill 
— the first stating that where a tenant executes on 
his holding an improvement adding to the letting 
value, he shall be entitled to compensation in respect 
to the improvement; and secondly, where a tenant 
commits or permits waste diminishing the letting value 
of the holding, the landlord shall be entitled to compen- 
sation in respect of the waste. It appears to me that 
if the Bill simply contained these two clauses, or carried 
them both out with something like equal fairness, 
farmers would readily accept the measure as the 
greatest boon that could be conferred on them, even 
under the somewhat complicated machinery provided in 
the Bill for ascertaining the amounts due to both land- 
lords and tenants. You say : ' If the tenant leaves the 
land he occupied in better condition, and of more value 
than when he got it, he is entitled to compensation ; 
and if the landlord gets back his land in worse condi- 
tion, and of lower value than when he parted with it, 
is he not equally entitled to compensation ? ' Un- 
doubtedly this last is quite right, and I never heard a 
single tenant object to pay for dilapidations. In fact, 
this is not only the law at present on the subject, but 
tenants are bound in their leases in Scotland to pay for 
repairs of houses, fences, and ditches, and also accord- 
ing to a stated course of rotation of cropping, and 
according to the rules of good husbandry, under heavy 
penalties, which are not unfrequently exacted to the 
last penny with regard to cropping, and invariably so 
as to houses and fences. My great objection to the 
measure is that the compensation first promised to 
the tenant is evidently not intended to be given, but is 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 345 

altogether a delusion, a mockery, and a snare ; in fact, 
the Bill carefully provides that tenants shall not obtain 
above a mere tithe of their outlay for improvements, 
while payment for waste or dilapidation is rendered 
certain to the landlord. Notwithstanding that thirteen 
articles are enumerated as waste, the landlord's imagina- 
tion is excited to find other claims by the clause you 
have also alluded to — viz., 'Nothing in this Act shall 
prevent any act or thing not specified in this section 
from being deemed waste diminishing the letting value 
of the holding.' How differently have our legislators 
looked at the tenants' side of the question ! It is true 
there are eighteen things enumerated for which the 
tenant is to be compensated, but the question is — How 
compensated ? Certainly not according to their adding 
to the letting value of the holding. Nine, or one half 
of the whole, are considered first-class improvements, 
but for which the tenant shall not be entitled to com- 
pensation ' unless executed with the previous consent, 
in writing, of the landlord :' and again, it is provided 
that for the purpose of this Act these improvements 
shall be deemed exhausted at the end of twenty 
years, though contained amongst them are drainage of 
land, erection of buildings, reclamation of waste land, 
etc. etc., which may not be exhausted for a century. 
Seven articles are enumerated under second-class 
improvements, — viz., boning of pasture land with 
undissolved bones, chalking land, clay-burning, claying, 
liming, and marling land, and planting of hops. I can 
only speak from experience of claying and liming land, 
but I am confident, with regard to them, that if the 
term had been doubled, or fourteen years instead of 
seven, before being deemed exhausted, still the tenant 



346 MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 

would have been entitled to some compensation. The 
third class contains the two remaining articles for 
which tenants may obtain compensation, — viz., applica- 
tion to land of purchased, artificial, or other manures ; 
and consumption by cattle, sheep, or pigs, of corn, 
cake, or other feeding-stuffs, and these shall be deemed 
exhausted in two years. ... I know from repeated 
experiments with Peruvian and Ichaboe guano that the 
effects on the crops after them are as visible as after 
farm -yard manure for four years at least ; and I have 
seen the effects of undissolved bones on arable land for 
ten or twelve years. It takes nearly a lease to bring 
land into really profitable working order, and this can 
only be done by a steady yearly application of large 
quantities of manure ; and yet the proposed compensa- 
tion is limited to what may have been applied to the 
last crop, as the whole is deemed exhausted after two 
years, and even this is carefully guarded by the enact- 
ment ' that there shall not be taken into account any 
larger outlay during the last year of the tenancy than 
the average amount of the outlay during the three next 
preceding years of the tenancy, or other less number 
of years through which the tenancy has endured.' I 
certainly do not consider this proposed ' compensation' 
for any one of these eighteen enumerated articles in the 
Bill as otherwise than a mockery, and there is nothing 
else in the Act in favour of tenants, or tending to give 
a just or fair rendering of the 5th clause, which 
explicitly states that ' where a tenant executes on his 
holding an improvement adding to the letting value 
thereof he shall be entitled to compensation,' which 
ought to be in the same measure, or full value, as land- 
lords are entitled to for waste from tenants. 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 347 

" I think, on the whole, tenants may regard it as a 
matter of thankfulness that, such as the Bill is, it is 
only permissive, but if the scales of justice were held 
equally betwixt landlord and tenant, then unquestion- 
ably I consider it ought to be compulsory in the 
interests of the whole nation, including landowners and 
occupiers. . . . Land is so far different from every 
other description of property, that the public have an 
undoubted interest in its management and in the uses 
to which it is put. Under our present laws (made by 
landowners), whatever operations a tenant performs, 
whether building, draining, or manuring, becomes the 
property of the landowner; and at the conclusion of 
the tenancy, as agreed on, tenants must leave their 
property without compensation. It is the decided 
opinion of many practical men, that if an Act were 
passed in substitution of our present Land laws, by 
which tenants were really and truly entitled to com- 
pensation for all improvements effected by them which 
added to the letting value of their holdings, the crops 
grown would be so increased as to render this country 
almost independent of foreign aid in agricultural 
produce, which it at present requires to nearly one- 
third of the total consumption of the kingdom. Until 
this shall be done, the farmers are right to keep their 
money in their pockets, and farm as far as they can on 
the ' hand-to-mouth' system, which is all they can 
possibly do with safety to themselves. — I am, etc., 

" George Hope." 

On the 22d of May 1875 my father laid the founda- 
tion-stone of a second Unitarian Church in Glasgow. 
Speaking on this occasion he said: "... It is said 



348 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

that we make small progress in Scotland, but, even 
since I remember, the preaching in the greater part of 
the orthodox churches has undergone an almost total 
revolution. The old Calvinism is greatly toned down ; 
verbal inspiration of the Bible and the creation of the 
world in six days are quietly ignored by the more 
sensible of the clergy. You must remember the slow 
progress of public opinion in all questions, and par- 
ticularly on religion. It is only since I was born that 
the cruel penal laws against Unitarians were repealed 
in this country. Until the year 1813, professed Unita- 
rians were liable to have their goods confiscated, them- 
selves banished from the country, or, it might be, 
hanged by the neck until dead. It is true these laws 
had fallen into desuetude for some time before their 
final repeal, but it is not 200 years since Thomas 
Aikenhead, an Edinburgh medical student, was hanged 
for denying the Deity of Christ (though libelled for 
cursing the Deity, this was not proved). He recanted 
on his trial, but this did not save him. . . . We object 
to creeds, and shall demand of all who may be appointed 
to minister in this place, to search into every question 
without fearing results, except the missing of the truth. 
We are different from other churches in that we have 
no infallible old gentleman on whom the Deity of this 
mighty Universe has bestowed unerring knowledge of 
divine things, nor yet have we periodic Synods or 
General Assemblies to regulate our faith by creed and 
confessions drawn up 300 years ago by men who 
believed in witchcraft, and, still more wonderful, in a 
curious being called the Devil, who has, they say, 
struggled with the One Omnipotent since the creation 
of mankind, and hitherto with such success that he has 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 349 

at least torn from the loving Father's hands the immense 
majority of the human race. The whole thing is alike 
monstrous and incredible, and I do hope that, by means 
of teaching from this place, many citizens of Glasgow 
may be redeemed from such degrading superstitions, 
alike derogatory to God and man. We know that 
unless the Lord do build the house, they labour in vain 
who build it. We therefore pray for God's blessing on 
it, that it may be 'finished without loss of life or limb, 
and be crowned with all the benefits we anticipate." 

I think it was a gratification to my father to have 
laid the foundation-stone of this church. He hoped 
that the silver trowel and mallet then presented to 
him would be valued by his family at least as highly 
as any other relic of him. 

After making the above speech, he, as usual on such 
occasions, received several letters, the writers of which 
remonstrated with him on the iniquity of his beliefs ; 
his non-belief in the devil usually exciting greater 
horror in their minds than any other of his opinions. 
After saying in public (as an example of the advance of 
liberalism in theology) that " few people now believed 
in the devil," a number of correspondents assured him 
that he was entirely mistaken in supposing so, and 
that they at least believed firmly in that personage. 

In this summer, my father, accompanied by his wife 
and daughter, paid his first visit to the English Lakes, 
with which he was greatly delighted. At a meeting of 
the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture, held at Perth in 
the month of July, he referred to this visit, and to an 
argument which he had with an English proprietor 
whom he met at Keswick. He said : " I returned last 
week from a short tour in England by the west coast, 



350 MEMOIE OF GEORGE HOPE. 

and then to the more midland counties. Having passed 
the border, I was satisfied that the English crops were 
generally inferior to those adjoining them in Scotland. 
I met a Cumberland proprietor, who not only admitted 
this to be the fact, but said he saw it every time he 
went to the north, and that he knew the Scotch tenants 
paid much higher rents in proportion to the natural 
value of the soil. I replied : The Scotch tenants have 
the security of leases, which your farmers have not. 
He said he never would grant a lease, as then he would 
have no interest whatever in his land, and his tenants 
might defy him. To this I replied : You see the penalty 
you pay that you may hold your tenants in subjection, 
for your land is badly farmed, and is let for at least one- 
third less than it otherwise would be. He afterwards 
told me that, by agreement, he gave his tenants com- 
pensation for unexhausted improvements, and that he 
paid for lime if it had been applied within five years, 
which I consider, if liberally applied, should last for 
twenty years. After this, I did not consider it neces- 
sary to inquire further into the management of his 
estate." 

In this same speech my father also said : " I have 
twice visited and inspected a farm in England which 
gladdened my heart, as I considered it one of the best 
— if not the best — managed farms I had ever seen. The 
leases lately again came to a close, and a valuator was 
once more sent over the estate. He stated in his report 
that my friend's farm would stand 50 per cent, of addi- 
tional rent, while the other farms were dear enough at 
the old rents. My friend at once refused the farm on 
the terms offered, and said that if there was anything 
in the condition of the country that had increased the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 351 

value of land, lie was willing to pay this increase ; but 
that he was determined not to pay a penny for the 
value of improvements produced by his own capital. 
. . . The landlord ultimately behaved as he ought to 
have done, and renewed all the leases at the old rents. 
. . . But what a position was this for a man to be placed 
in ! Here the tenant had added 50 per cent, to the value 
of the farm, trusting to the character his landlord and 
his forefathers had always maintained for liberality in 
dealing with their tenants, and it was entirely in the 
landlord's power to have confiscated the whole of these 
improvements, there being neither law nor custom to 
prevent him — nay, the law was entirely on the land- 
lord's side, empowering him to do so. If this had taken 
place in Scotland, with a lawyer for a factor, I doubt 
whether the termination would have been equally satis- 
factory. ... I regret much that we have not yet carried 
the abolition of the law of Hypothec, about which there 
are not two opinions amongst tenant-farmers. The 
power it bestows on landlords annihilates every chance 
of tenants meeting them on equal terms. How can 
there be freedom of contract when capital is so handi- 
capped by this Hypothec law that the landlord's rent is 
safe should he let his farm to a tenant with perhaps 
only a fourth of the necessary capital? So long as 
this continues I am not surprised that farmers are looked 
upon as ' serfs/ or the ' puir bodies that labour the 
soH.' . . ." 

In December 1875, on a vacancy having occurred in 
the representation of East Aberdeenshire, my father was 
invited by a sub-committee of the General Liberal Com- 
mittee to become a candidate for that constituency. 



352 MEMOIK OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

From the Aberdeen Free Press of December 4th, 1875. 

" The business of the market yesterday seemed to be 
chiefly discussing, not so much the claims of the candi- 
dates that have come into the field, as the claims of 
other candidates more likely to secure the support of 
farmers. Mr. Hope seemed to be the universal favour- 
ite. . . . When it was known that the Liberal Com- 
mittee had determined on inviting Mr. Hope to come 
forward, the feeling of the market became quite enthusi- 
astic in his favour. . . . Arrangements are being made 
for Mr. Hope addressing the electors at Ellon on 
Monday, and it is only in the event of being cordially 
accepted by the Ellon meeting that Mr. Hope will come 
forward as a candidate." 

In speaking at Ellon my father said : " I did not 
come here without being asked, and, moreover, I hope, 
if you are not pleased, that you will simply tell me so 
at once, and I will be much better pleased to go home 
than to stay." 

At this meeting, as at all the others which he ad- 
dressed in the course of the three following weeks, my 
father was most cordially received by the great majority 
of those present. 

Two other candidates were then in the field, namely, 
Lieutenant- General Sir Alexander Gordon (uncle of 
the Earl of Aberdeen), Conservative ; and Mr. Ainslie 
Douglas Ainslie of Delgaty Castle, Liberal, — so much 
so, that for three years past no less than two tenants 
out of forty-three on his estate had been permitted to 
shoot eabbits ! The reason which Mr. Ainslie gave for 
the remaining forty-one tenants not having enjoyed 
this privilege was, that he had hitherto been a private 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 353 

individual, but he declared that he would now give all 
his tenants liberty to shoot. Although proposing to 
represent an agricultural constituency, he confessed, in 
reply to a question concerning tenant-right, that he did 
not profess to understand the details of agricultural 
questions. He mentioned as one of his great recom- 
mendations that he was a " resident proprietor." 

It was said that General Sir Alexander Gordon had 
more than once, when addressing meetings, expressed 
opinions at variance with those in his printed address, 
and on being interrogated on the subject of the county 
franchise (being evidently anxious to avoid falling 
again into the same error) he declined to give an 
answer until he had perused his address, of which he 
begged the audience to lend him a copy, but no one 
appeared to possess the document. 

General Gordon at Turriff.— Report of Proceedings 
from Aberdeen Free Press of December 13th, 1875. 

"... General Gordon. — ' I don't remember what I 
said, really. (Hisses.) I think I stated in my address 
that I approve of the assimilation of the county and 
burgh franchise. I said nothing about supporting any 
measure. I approve of that. Can any one lend me a 
copy of my address V 

" For some time the General vainly appealed to the 
electors for a copy of his address, but at length a news- 
paper containing the address was forthcoming from the 
reporters' table, and the General proceeded, amid great 
merriment, to peruse that document in order to find out 
what his opinions on the matter were. This proceeding 
occupied some considerable length of time, and the 

z 



354 MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 

chairman, thinking that he could more readily ' spot ' 
the place, took the paper from the General, and began 
to search, the audience all the while hissing, howling, 
and laughing with might and main. For some time the 
chairman, reinforced by the General, tried to ' find the 
place,' but the task appeared to be an unexpectedly 
difficult one, and Mr. Ferguson of Kinmundy was about 
to go to their assistance, when 

" The Chairman and the General together exclaimed 
— ' Oh ! here it is ' — (laughter.) 

" General Gordon (taking the newspaper). — ' Allow me 
— Oh, I can manage it without spectacles — (laughter.) 
[Eeads to himself the clause in his address.] That 's 
very clear, I think' — (laughter and cheers)." 

The General afterwards excused himself for having 
appealed to the audience for a copy of his address, 
explaining that he had been forced to do so because he 
had not his own copy with him. 

Armies of paid canvassers scoured the county on 
behalf of General Gordon and of Mr. Ainslie. My 
father employed no paid canvassers. Tory landed 
influence was unscrupulous as ever. By order of a 
Mr. Urquhart of Meldrum, a Tory, and owner of the 
town-hall of Old Meldrum, the use of that building 
(which was empty) was, at the last moment, and after 
it had been granted by the lessee of the hall, refused 
to the Liberal candidates. My father therefore ad- 
dressed a meeting in the open air during a fall of snow, 
when the thermometer was below the freezing-point, 
and snow to the depth of several inches was on the 
ground. 

A handle was made against my father of the follow- 
ing facts. When he bought his farm of Sun wick it was 



MEMOIK OF GEORGE HOPE. 355 

let upon a lease which had still sixteen years to run. 
By this lease, which had of course been drawn up by 
the former proprietor, and not by my father, the game, 
including rabbits, was reserved to the owner, but on 
coming into possession, my father at once gave the 
tenant leave to shoot game of all kinds without reser- 
vation. Two or three years afterwards the tenant died, 
and his farm was then carried on by his widow. It 
not being customary for ladies to shoot, it did not 
occur to my father that, under the circumstances, there 
could be any harm in letting the game on Sunwick. 
He accordingly let it, with the exception of the rabbits, 
which he left to the tenant to let if she pleased. Great 
was the outcry made by the Tory newspapers when 
they discovered this, and my father was stigmatised by 
them as an oppressor of the widow and orphan. That 
the tenant did not consider herself to be greatly 
oppressed is shown by the fact that when, some time 
afterwards, she was offered, for herself and her friends, 
the joint right of shooting with the owners, she declined 
it, preferring to keep to the former arrangement. Had 
the tenant been in the habit of shooting, or had she had 
a son old enough to carry a gun, or had my father been 
able to go himself to shoot, he would never have thought 
of letting the game. He was quite aware that his doing 
so would render him liable to much misconstruction, 
and would in all probability be brought to bear against 
him if he ever stood as a candidate to represent any 
constituency in Parliament, but he never went a step 
out of his way for any consideration of this kind. 

Some of his friends blamed him for answering the 
questions which he was asked at the different meetings 
" as if he had been on oath," and also for bringing his 



356 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

opinions on Disestablishment too prominently forward, 
but it would have been impossible for him to have 
done otherwise than he did. The sentence regarding 
Disestablishment in his printed address to the electors 
is in marked contrast to the long and vague statements 
by many so-called Liberal candidates of their opinions 
on this subject. He said in his address : " I have long 
been in favour of the separation of Church and State, 
and I hope Disestablishment will soon be accomplished, 
if possible with general consent." This declaration 
roused the Established Church clergy in the county to 
fury. They canvassed night and day, descanting to 
the terror-stricken electors on the abominable wicked- 
ness of the Eadical candidate's theological opinions, 
the iniquity of his desire to see museums opened on 
Sunday, and the blasphemy of his disbelief in the devil. 
They prayed with their parishioners, the "free and 
independent" electors of East Aberdeenshire, for the 
return of General Gordon. "The religious hatred," 
writes my father, " was something awful. They came 
and shook their fists in my face as if they would twist 
my neck." 

A friend of my father's wrote : " I look not at all on 
Mr. Hope merely as a tenant, or late tenant-farmer — 
that would be a small matter to stand by, — but I look 
upon him simply as a man, in the truest sense which 
that word may convey, — a man truly in his great in- 
tegrity and high moral purpose; of luminous and 
vigorous mind; capable of dealing with great ques- 
tions in the light of the principles involved ; capable, 
though a farmer, of perceiving that the Protective 
Corn Laws, prior to their abolition, were little else 
than a stalking falsehood, crushing down, among others, 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 357 

those whom they were meant to protect. It would be 
a signal honour to East Aberdeenshire to be the first 
constituency in Scotland that practically recognised 
one of her most worthy sons, and would follow up 
with fine effect what she has had the courage to initiate 
and undertake. Another point wherein a needed ex- 
ample would be given in Mr. Hope's triumphant return, 
would be that it would form the commencement of a 
period over which narrow religious bigotry will cease to 
have sway. But for narrow clerics and their poor dupes, 
long ago would the man have been in the place he now 
aspires to. And what is more to be pitied in such 
bigotry as that, is, that though adhering to a different 
letter or form, he is in the highest sense religious, living 
and moving in the purest spirit of what he believes." 

I do not think that my father's religious opinions 
stood in his way when contesting East Lothian in 
1865, he being there personally known to the electors, 
and until the East Aberdeenshire election he did not 
himself think that these opinions had in any way 
damaged his worldly prospects. 

Mr. Ainslie Douglas Ainslie, after being several times 
requested by meetings of Liberal electors to retire from 
the contest, ultimately did so a few days before the 
polling took place. 

Mr. M'Combie — then M.P. for West Aberdeenshire — 
wrote : " There is not a man living who has done so 
much for the independence and well-being of the 
tenant-farmer as Mr. Hope." Nevertheless, in a con- 
stituency in which four-fifths of the electors were tenant- 
farmers, the result of the poll was that there voted for 
Sir Alexander Gordon 1903, and for my father 1568 — 
the majority for Sir Alexander Gordon being 345. 



358 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

There is no doubt that several different causes con- 
tributed to bring about this result. The whole of both 
Whig and Tory landed influence was against my father, 
and probably Sir Alexander Gordon's connection with 
the Earl of Aberdeen weighed for more with many 
farmers than all that my father had done for the 
"independence and well-being" of their class. His 
unpopular theological opinions were against him, and 
perhaps still more so was his uncompromising advocacy 
of Disestablishment ; but possibly the scale might have 
been turned in his favour had he carted his supporters 
to the poll, as his opponent did. 

From the Scotsman of December 23d, 1875. 

"The Conservatives were all along making tremen- 
dous efforts, sparing neither pains nor expense to carry 
their man. ... In accordance with the resolution come 
to at the outset by Mr. Hope's committee, no canvassing 
agents were employed during the whole election on 
behalf of that gentleman, and no vehicles were engaged, 
or means of conveyance provided yesterday, while the 
supporters of General Gordon had busses, wagonettes, 
and other vehicles running in all directions. Neither 
of the candidates attempted a personal canvass ; but in 
the way of addressing meetings neither of them was 
idle. Mr. Hope spoke at twenty meetings, while 
General Gordon addressed no fewer than about thirty. 
The excitement in the division during the whole con- 
test was intense." 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 359 



TO MR. SADLER, FORMERLY OF FERRYGATE, EAST LOTHIAN. 

" Bordlands, 30^ Jany. 1876. 

" I should have replied to your kind letter by return 
of post, but I was four days in Edinburgh last week, 
which is much longer than usual for me to be from 
home, and I am taking the first spare minute to have a 
talk with you. In the first place, I must say after the 
first ten minutes I did not feel at all disappointed at 
my defeat in Aberdeenshire. It was about one o'clock 
on the Thursday morning before I heard the news. I 
went to bed, and in five minutes was sound asleep, and 
heard nothing till rapped up in the morning. I had 
made up my mind to go home that day whatever was 
the result. My supporters had canvassed hard for eight 
or ten days and then stopped ; they were far too confi- 
dent, saying I was to get in by two to one ; nothing less 
would serve them. I did not believe this, and felt 
vexed at their disappointment more than for myself. 
If Ainslie had not retired I would have won, for though 
he himself voted for me, his supporters went over in a 
body to Gordon, and then when you think that Gordon 
was a son of Lord Aberdeen, who was once Prime 
Minister, and is the uncle of the present Earl, who has 
very large estates in the county, and the family have 
always been kind to all their tenants, and consequently 
very popular, the odds against me were very heavy ; 
while I did not know half-a-dozen people in the district 
before I went there. I think it rather astonishing that 
I polled 1558 voters. The lairds and factors and the 
Established clergy were all against me to a man. The 
latter took to praying for me with the small farmers. 
Their personal insolence besides was often as much as 



360 MEMOIK OF GEORGE HOPE. 

I could bear. — But I must be done with this topic, and 
will only add that I do not regret having gone north. 
I believe it will ultimately do good. I have no great 
desire to go to Parliament, but at this time, when the 
Scotch Agricultural Holdings Bill is to be settled, I 
thought I might be useful from my knowledge of agri- 
culture, but I have no personal interest in the matter." 

TO MR. ADAM HOPE. 

" Bordlands, 31st March 1876. 

". . . You allude to the fight in East Aberdeenshire. 
I daresay you are partly right. I could easily have set 
aside the question about the Coronation Oath, and also 
others. ... I did not know half-a-dozen voters in the 
county. . . . Mr. Ainslie was too long in the course ; I 
only wished he had gone to the poll. Though he him- 
self and a dozen or so of his supporters voted for me, 
yet the great bulk of them voted for Sir Alex. Gordon. 
However, I have forgotten the most of it. . . . 

"You will have heard that P. has taken Oxwell 
Mains. It is certainly one of the best farms in East 
Lothian, and I think it will do, if potatoes pay as they 
have done for the last twenty or thirty years. The 
potatoes grown there, being on the famous red soil, 
were always worth £1 or £1, 10s. per ton more than I 
could get for them at Fenton Barns." 

My father had always had a great longing after the 
red land in the neighbourhood of Dunbar. He always 
talked of it as "the land of Goshen;" and he had 
once looked at a few acres which were for sale there, 
with a strong desire to buy them, but he had not then 
been able to do so. When, therefore, the farm of Oxwell 



ft 

MEMOIK OF GEOEGE HOPE. 361 

Mains was advertised to let, he strongly advised his 
son to make an offer for it, and no doubt it was a great 
gratification to him that a son of his should be the 
selected though by no means the highest offerer for 
what he considered one of the finest pieces of land in 
Great Britain. He was only three times at Oxwell 
Mains after his son became tenant of it. On the occa- 
sion of his first visit, when passing Fenton Barns in the 
train, he was amused by a fellow-passenger pointing it 
out to him, and informing him that that was the farm 
from which Mr. Hope had been evicted by his land- 
lord ! 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

Never yet 
Share of Truth was vainly set 
In the world's wide fallow, 
After hands shall sow the seed, 
After hands from hill and mead 
Eeap the harvest yellow. 

J. G. Whittieu. 

In the spring of 1876 my father was much occupied 
with agricultural arbitrations, valuing land, estimating 
damage done to land by mining, etc. His family had 
for some years been desirous that he should give up all 
business of this kind, and he himself also wished to do 
so, but his services in such matters were much in 
request, notwithstanding that he did not (as is generally 
done) confine himself to trying to secure the interests 
of his own clients, but always endeavoured to do what 
he thought was simple justice. " I never met his 
equal in consultation," writes one, " and in the mastery 
of all the details connected with agricultural arbitra- 
tion he stood alone." 

The last piece of work he did in any public question 
was in April 1876, to write a letter to the Scotsman on 
Mr. M'Lagan's Game Bill, which was then before the 
House of Commons. His labours for the reform of the 
Game Laws extended over a period of more than forty 
years (from 1835 till 1876), and anything contained in 
this volume gives but a very faint indication of what 
they were. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 363 

The time was drawing very near now when he was 
to rest from all his labours. All his life long, whatever 
his hand had found to do he had done it with all his 
might, and now the heat and burden of the day were 
past, and very soon was he to enter into his rest. 

In his latter years my father has often said that he 
thought few could have had so happy a life as he had 
had. In boyhood and early youth he had not felt 
existence to be a great delight, it was then more of a 
pain to him than a pleasure ; but although he had, to 
the full, as many anxieties, disappointments, and trials 
as ordinarily fall to the lot of mortals, yet, with in- 
creasing years, his happiness also increased. 

" In regard to Mr. Hope," writes one, " I think sin- 
cerity was his strongest feature ; next, I would say, 
charity." I think all who came in contact with him, 
even those whose acquaintance with him was of the 
slightest, felt the same. There was one trait of his 
character which was probably unsuspected by many of 
his friends, being united as it was with other qualities 
which are commonly regarded as incompatible with it. 
This was a strong vein of romance. Nothing made 
him so indignant as to hear any one speak of " a good 
marriage," meaning thereby a marriage by which rank 
or wealth had been secured ; and on some one once 
consulting him concerning a young man's property on 
behalf of a young lady, he replied that if she could 
not take him with the coat on his back she had better 
have nothing to do with him. 

There were some customs of my father's which seem 
almost too trifling to mention, and yet which were too 
characteristic entirely to omit mention of : — The con- 
fused state in which he kept his letters and papers, 



364 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

and his utter incapacity ever to find, unassisted, any 
document of which he once lost sight ; his practice of 
examining every morning and evening numerous ther- 
mometers and barometers, and of marking down the 
results of these observations ; his great interest in the 
arrival of the post, more especially when anything was 
stirring in the political world. During the general 
election of 1874 he would watch at the window for the 
arrival of the post, when it was expected to bring news 
of the result of any election in which he was specially 
interested ; he would sometimes open the window and 
call to have the letters brought there, and great would 
be his surprise and dismay when defeat after defeat of 
Liberal candidates was announced, for he had still 
something of the hopeful spirit of his youth, and just as 
intense an interest in all that was going on as he could 
ever have had. 

No sketch of my father's life would be complete in 
which mention was not made of his enthusiastic ad- 
miration for Eobert Collyer, formerly minister of Unity 
Church, Chicago, now of New York. Mr. Collyer's 
two volumes of sermons, " Nature and Life," and " The 
Life that now is," were read and re-read by him very 
many times. The former of these, in a sermon entitled 
"Koot and Flower," contains a page or two upon 
Eobert Burns, which my father considered the finest 
thing that had ever been written upon Burns. 

It has been supposed that the East Aberdeenshire 
election injured my father's health, but to all outward 
appearance this was not the case. For fully two months 
after its termination he was not only perfectly well, 
but was more vigorous than he had been for long. 
Eheumatism, with which he had been troubled in the 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 365 

previous summer and autumn, had been gradually dis- 
appearing during the first part of the winter, and 
entirely left him after his return from Aberdeenshire. 
In the middle of April he was one day, when out 
fishing, seized with a pain in his side, which became so 
violent that it was with difficulty he reached home. 
Two or three times afterwards in the course of the 
summer, when he had taken an unusually long walk, 
there were threatenings of a return of this, and he was 
now more easily fatigued than he was accustomed 
to be. 

TO ME. ADAM HOPE. 

"Bordlakds, 28th June 1876. 

" I have yours of 8th June. ... I heartily con- 
gratulate C. . . . I only wish I was able to be present 
on the occasion, but prudence says No. I do not find 
I am able for the fatigue. . . . 

"... I intend to sell Glencotho and reduce the 
amount of money I had borrowed, if I do not sell 
Bordlands also and retire from all active business, for 
which I find I am not able ; any walking seems to cut 
me up. . . . 

" I intend going to Oxwell Mains soon, and staying 
some days, to make myself thoroughly versant with it. 
P. is to enter his house there to-day. . . ." 

He attended an Agricultural Show at Haddington 
early in July, and when on his way to Haddington 
Station, after being all day on his feet in the showyard, 
he had a return of the pain in his side, and had great 
difficulty in walking to the station. A week or so after 
this, on being again in Haddington, he was surprised 
by almost every one whom he met shaking hands with 



366 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

him, and expressing themselves as being delighted to 
see him. He was some time in Haddington before he 
discovered what was the reason of the very warm 
reception he met with from all his friends, and from 
many who were almost strangers to him : it turned out 
that a paragraph stating that he was seriously ill had 
on that same morning appeared in a newspaper. The 
statement was contradicted on the following week, but 
it was only too true. This was his last visit to Had- 
dington. 

His family were now very unwilling to allow him to 
go anywhere alone, but it was not always possible to 
prevent this. 

He wrote one more letter to his brother before his 
long correspondence with him came to an end : — 

"Bordlands, 30th August 1876. 

" I have been thinking for some time that I ought to 
write you, if only to reply to what you told me in your 
last about dear C. . . . I should wish to give her some- 
thing as a token of our love. . . . Pray her to accept 
this, and buy whatever she fancies herself, with our 
best and warmest wishes for her lifelong success and 
happiness. 1 . . . We have had rather variable weather 
this summer. P. however says that at Oxwell Mains 
the crop is heavier than he expected. I shall go east 
either this week or next, and see myself how things 
look. He came here last Thursday, and went to Glen- 
cotho on Friday afternoon. . . . My wife and I, with 
C. and M., will go on Wednesday, and may remain for 
a week. I daresay you have seen I have advertised 
Glencotho. ... I shall stick to my price, but I may 

1 The niece of whom he here speaks died on October 19, 1877. 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 367 

be disappointed. . . . Our crop here is the best I have 
seen on this place. Our oats are rather too good — 
[There was one field of oats of which he was very proud, 
thinking that it ' beat anything in East Lothian ;' he 
took every one who came to Bordlands to see it] — our 
potatoes and turnips first-rate, and we have had plenty 
of grass, and our hay is a good crop . . . — With best 
love to H. and all your family, believe me yours affec- 
tionately, George Hope. 

" Very little walking now knocks me up, but if I 
keep my seat I can still do business ; however, I find 
I must retire. Let H. return as soon as you can." 

On the 15th of August he took the last of many 
pleasant drives to his sheep-farm of Glencotho. Since 
coming to Peeblesshire his visits there had been much 
more frequent than formerly, Glencotho being within 
thirteen miles of Bordlands. He would often drive 
over with friends who were visiting him to spend a few 
hours there, or would go, with his wife and daughters, 
and remain for some days. At Glencotho it not unfre- 
quently rained for a week at a time, but when no one 
was there to whom they felt responsible for the weather 
my father and his family enjoyed it in spite of the rain. 
My father would go out fishing, or sit absorbed in a 
book, or play backgammon with his youngest daughter, 
and a tremendous noise they made over it, with shouts 
of " fives," " sixes," etc., and rattling of the dice with 
great vigour, regardless of all entreaties to rattle them 
more gently — for my father entered into games, as into 
everything else, with all his heart. In his opinion 
Glencotho had only one fault, which was its deficiency 
of postal communication with the rest of the world. 



368 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

But when the post did arrive it was quite an event. 
It came at no particular hour, and not even every day, 
for a messenger had to be sent four miles for it, which 
could not always be done. 

On the morning after his arrival at Glencotho, on 
this his last visit there, my father walked a mile and a 
half up the glen to a spot where he had not been for 
two years, rheumatism having prevented him walking 
much on the previous summer. Never had the glen 
looked more beautiful than it did then under the morn- 
ing sunshine ; the heather had just burst into bloom, 
and the hillsides were a blaze of purple. He went as 
far as a small waterfall, which had been the limit of 
many walks, and stood for long looking at it, as though 
he did not expect ever again to be on that spot. Having 
advertised the place for sale he was very desirous to see 
it all once more, and all the anxious care with which 
he was surrounded could not prevent him from greatly 
over-wearying himself in taking fatiguing walks to 
different parts of it. The weather was oppressively 
hot, and every day during his stay there he became 
more worn out. In about a week he returned home, 
and from thence went for a few days to his son's farm 
in East Lothian. 

Between the middle of July and the end of September 
his health varied a good deal ; occasionally he was 
tolerably well, and something like his old self, but 
upon the whole he gradually lost strength. Until after 
the middle of September he still drove or walked about 
the farm as usual. Those around him tried their best 
to take every care of him without making their great 
anxiety apparent to him, but they could as yet do little. 
He did not like to be taken too much care of, nor to do 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 369 

in any way differently from usual. All the month of 
October he was very ill — suffering no pain, but just 
seeming to waste away. He was almost never entirely 
confined to bed, unless for a day occasionally, and day 
after day he sat at the window very quiet and patient. 
He was always able to enjoy being read aloud to, but he 
ceased to read to himself. The newspapers, which had 
all his life been of such intense interest to him, he 
cared for no longer. Meetings of Chambers of Agri- 
culture, or speeches on the Game Laws, or other public 
questions, were no more anything to him. His great 
interest in letters had been quite a byword in his house- 
hold ; not satisfied with hearing a letter read, he liked 
to see it for himself ; now the only letters he cared to 
see were those of absent members of his family. In 
the beginning of November he began to gain a little 
strength ; very slowly, and at first almost imperceptibly, 
but steadily, his health improved, and in the latter part 
of the month the improvement was very marked. He 
was out several times for short drives, and for turns on 
the gravel in front of the house. He never now 
inquired nor cared to see what was being done in the 
way of farm-work, but always seemed interested in 
seeing a school which was then being erected on one 
corner of his property, and concerning the securing of a 
good site for which he had taken an immense amount 
of trouble. Sometimes during the summer he had 
appeared depressed to feel himself so much less strong 
than formerly, and he had been particularly so when, 
early in October, he felt himself completely laid aside ; 
but after the middle of October the depression entirely 
passed away, and he was during the few remaining 
weeks of his life very cheerful and happy. 

2 A 



370 MEMOIR OF GEOKGE HOPE. 

On Sunday the 26th of November he was very 
anxious to walk as far as the entrance to Bordlands 
from the public road (about half a mile from the house), 
and he went nearly as far, appearing to enjoy the walk 
and the fresh air and the sunshine extremely. He was 
persuaded to turn before going quite as far as he wished, 
but by the time he reached home he was very much 
exhausted. After resting an hour or two he appeared 
quite restored, and was not the worse for his walk. 
On the three following days, the weather having become 
cold and wintry, it was not thought advisable for him 
to venture out either walking or driving, but he con- 
tinued slowly to gain strength. On the morning of 
Thursday the 30th of November he was not quite so 
well. During the day he seemed better, took his meals, 
and enjoyed being read to as usual, but was languid, 
and contented to lie still. At eight o'clock in the 
evening he became suddenly worse, and was in great 
pain for a few minutes, but this quickly passed. He 
continued all night very restless and uncomfortable, 
although suffering no acute pain. At five in the morn- 
ing of the 1st December the end came, and he passed 
away out of reach of all love and care. 

It has been said that " it is the mark of the highest 
kind of union between sagacious, firm, and clear-sighted 
intelligence and a warm and steadfast glow of social 
feeling, when a man has learnt how little the efforts of 
the individual can do either to hasten or direct the 
current of human destiny, and yet finds in effort his 
purest pleasure and his most constant duty. If we 
owe honour to that social endeavour which is stimu- 
lated and sustained by an enthusiastic confidence in 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 371 

speedy and full fruition, we surely owe it still more to 
those who, knowing how remote, and precarious, and 
far beyond their own days, is the hour of fruit, yet 
need no other spur nor sustenance than bare hope, and 
in this strife and endeavour, and still endeavour." My 
father was well aware that not himself but others 
would reap the result of his efforts, but no disappoint- 
ments or discouragements had power to move him in 
his life-long battle against tyranny and injustice ; he 
"found in effort his purest pleasure and his most con- 
stant duty." There are not a few to whom the world 
will be a colder place from the day he left it, but what 
the loss is in his own home even those who enjoyed 
his friendship can scarcely judge. 

He was carried to the churchyard at Dirleton, where 
lay his children and his fathers ; passing once again by 
the fields of Fenton Barns — by the old home which 
had been bound so closely to his heart by the associa- 
tions which had gathered round it in a lifetime. On 
a bright, spring-like December day, when not a cloud 
was in the sky, he was laid to rest in the long familiar 
spot, within sight of the sea, amidst all the beautiful 
sights and sounds of nature, to which his eyes were 
now closed and his ears were deaf for ever. 

Over him there is written : — 

TO THE MEMORY 

OF 

GEORGE HOPE, 

FOE, MANY YEARS TENANT OF FENTON BARNS. 

BORN 2ND JANY. 1811 — DIED 1ST DECR. 1876. 

HE WAS THE DEVOTED SUPPORTER OF EVERY MOVEMENT WHICH TENDED 

TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, AND 

TO THE MORAL AND SOCIAL ELEVATION OF MANKIND. 



372 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

Very many expressions of sympathy reached my 
father's family, both from individuals and from public 
bodies. The Committee of the British and Foreign 
Unitarian Association, in expressing their sense of the 
loss sustained by liberal Christianity, say : " True to 
the loftiest principles and purest aims of human life, 
Mr. Hope was the supporter of every movement which 
tended to the public good. ... He followed the reli- 
gion which he believed Christ to have taught, and 
upheld its grand and simple truth in a difficult and 
trying position. Pressed on every hand by social in- 
fluences adverse to honesty of religious profession, he 
has been long and justly regarded as a steadfast and 
faithful light-bearer in dark places. His excellent 
judgment, the extensive knowledge and enlightened 
views which enabled him to render great services to 
his countrymen, his dignified gentleness of temper, and 
simplicity and nobleness of character, added value to 
his frank and fearless confession of an unpopular faith, 
and won for himself . . . wide-felt respect and sym- 
pathy, when he was made to suffer in his dearest 
interests under the tyranny of illiberal prejudice and 
wrong. But his work seemed hardly done, and the 
Committee feel, in common with all who knew his 
singular abilities and worth, the disappointment of well- 
founded expectations of future service in the support of 
truth and right from one who every year stood higher 
in the estimation of his fellow-citizens. ..." 

" His love to God and his fellow-men," writes one, 
" will bear fruit many days hence. His unselfishness, 
honesty of purpose, truthfulness, and fair dealing with 
his fellow-men, and his unswerving love of freedom for 
all, will mark his name with honour, and will be a 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 373 

grander legacy to you and his family than untold 
gold." 

One who had been for, I suppose, nearly fifty years 
in my father's and grandfather's employment writes : 
" I take up my pen with very much sorrow for the loss 
of my very dear friend, who is now taken from us all, — 
for he was very dear to me, and I must say, now he is 
no more, he had a place in my heart which will not be 
easily filled up. . . . Although I was sorry to hear of 
my dear Mr. Hope being unwell, never did I think he 
was so soon to be taken from us. The loss of such a 
husband and such a father is very very great, but your 
sorrow is not as those that have no hope, for he will 
now be at rest — no more pain, no more sorrow, — and 
the day will come when there shall be no more parting. 

" Many is the time since I came to Canada that I 
have looked forward to the time that I could again see 
you all ; but there is now one wanting. Oh, how 
much I should have liked to have been with you in 
your time of distress, if I could have been of any ser- 
vice ; but such could not be. ... I will now stop, for 
I cannot express my feelings ; only great sympathy 
with you and your family at this time." 

The Eev. John Gordon of Kenilworth, formerly 
minister of St. Mark's Chapel, Edinburgh, in a sermon 
or lecture delivered at this time, spoke of my father as 
follows : — 

"... His strong sense, his honest straightforward- 
ness, and his practical sagacity, made him a power to 
be felt in whatever movement he joined. 

" As to his personal bearing, he was scrupulously 
careful in the conduct of all affairs of business, but 
generous and open-hearted in the distribution of his 

2 A 2 



374 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

gains. He was acute and far-sighted in all worldly 
matters, but his religious feeling might, from its single- 
ness of scope, have belonged to the most unworldly of 
men. His reserve of manner and modesty of demeanour 
did but hide from general view the tender affection 
which drew close to his the hearts of all whom he 
trusted. . . . The honour he obtained seemed but to 
deepen his humility ; and the love of his home was 
rendered stronger by his intercourse with general 
society. . . . What he did for the cause of free Chris- 
tianity in Scotland no one can justly estimate. He 
gave it a reputation which it otherwise could not have 
possessed. He was never ashamed to confess his belief. 
He was always prepared to defend what he affirmed ; 
and men of all shades of opinion came to understand 
that the heresy they had dreaded or hated was recon- 
cilable with all that was clear in conception, and 
reverent in feeling, and high in aspiration. In that 
creed-bound country this was a great thing to do. And 
it was done in the instance before us with a contemp- 
tuous repudiation of those dishonourable compromises 
which are, in the South as in the North, so commonly 
made. He was accustomed to regard with stronger 
dislike that spurious liberality which could submit to 
orthodox compliances than he did the narrowest dog- 
matism of orthodoxy itself." 

Extract from a Sermon preached by the Eev. E. B. 
Drummond, in St. Mark's Chapel, Edinburgh, 
on December 10, 1876. 

" If there is any single sentence of Scripture in which 
the character of George Hope may be summed up, that 



MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 375 

sentence is — ' Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no 
guile ! ' A man of higher principle, of more sterling- 
integrity, of greater generosity of mind and heart, of a 
stronger sense of right, and determination at all costs 
to do right, or of greater practical talent in relation to 
the proper work of his life, it would not be easy to 
find ; but the one quality which will stand out to the 
memory of those who had the privilege of knowing him, 
as crowning all these, and as giving them additional 
lustre, will be, if I mistake not, the guilelessness of his 
character, and in that of course is included that inde- 
pendence of spirit which never made a compromise with 
wrong, that frankness of speech which never paltered 
with falsehood. Will it be said that this quality stood 
him on more than one occasion in bad stead, that with 
less of it he might have been a more prosperous man, 
and might have succeeded in some things in which, 
though possessing it, he failed ? It may have been so. 
I am not prepared to contend that it was not so, or that 
there is not a sense in which he might have been more 
successful had he been a little more practised in those 
temporising arts which enable one to be all things to 
all men. At the East Aberdeenshire election, about 
this time last year, there can be no doubt that Mr. 
Hope's frank avowal of his religious opinions, and the 
position which he took up in relation to the Established 
Church of the country, exercised a disastrous influence 
on his prospects. . . . The damaging questions put to 
the candidate, and answered by him with characteristic 
boldness and plainness of speech, created a prejudice 
which neither worth of character, nor the possession of 
precisely the knowledge and the ability which were 
most likely to be of service, could overcome, and the 



376 MEMOIR OF GEORGE HOPE. 

consequence was his defeat. . . . Should we honour 
him as highly, had he won a place for himself in the 
Legislature by the usual arts of the politician, as we 
are able to do now, remembering that he was simply 
an honest man, and that as such he came before his 
countrymen, reserving nothing and concealing nothing, 
and asking them either to take him exactly as he was, 
or not at all ? Surely it was something which the world 
should not soon forget — a man thus bravely planting 
himself on the simple worth of his character, on the 
pure integrity of his principles, and that in circum- 
stances in which equivocation and sophistry are usually 
deemed venial sins if not absolute merits. . . . 

"... I know not why we should speak of the dead 
as lost, when it is often only after death, or through it, 
that a man attains the greatest fulness of his life and 
exerts his most real influence. The life of such a man 
should be to all who knew him and loved him a pos- 
session for ever, a new proof of the worth of our nature, 
a new motive to virtue." 

The Eev. Eobert Collyer of Chicago writes : " The 
death of George Hope casts a long shadow ; so many 
knew him outside his own land and yours, and loved 
him. It has been my habit, as I have met educated 
Scotchmen since 1871, to ask them if they knew George 
Hope. Some could speak of him directly, others from 
what they had heard and read ; they were all of one 
mind, — that you would have to seek far and wide, even 
in Scotland, to find his match. It was my good fortune 
to be his guest on my last visit to the old home ; it is 
now one of my sunniest memories. He had written 
over here that I should come to Fenton Barns when I 
took the journey I had dreamed about ever since I was 



MEMOIR OF GEOEGE HOPE. 377 

a lad. There was such a pure persuasion of hospitality 
in his letter, that had I not been glad of any chance to 
see a real Scotch farmer's home, I should still have 
gone in answer to such an invitation ; and, ever since, I 
have cherished the hope — done with now for ever — 
that I should find him again under the new roof-tree 
over there, and possibly some day over here under my 
own. . . . 

"... I did not wonder when I heard he had been 
turned out of the old nest ; the presence of such a man 
was a standing menace to injustice and class tyranny. 
I think he had made up his mind he would have to go ; 
all the same, wrenching up the deep old roots tapped 
the springs of his life. He wrote me a cheerful letter 
after he had gone through it all, as he thought ; was 
very proud of the demonstration of affection the event 
drew from his old neighbours and friends. . . . He 
knew not then, in the good brave heart of him, that the 
roots could never strike down again, or the sap mount 
and run through the far-reaching branches ; his work 
was done, and the ' Well done ! ' was waiting for him 
within the veil." 

And whether or not there is in truth a life " within 
the veil," may that which is quoted in this volume, from 
what has been said and written of him, bear testimony 
that my father's life on earth has not been lived in 
vain. 



APPENDIX. 

MEMORANDUM BY GEORGE HOPE. 

" 17 th April 1865. — I make this memorandum of my 
recollection of what passed this day at the meeting of the 
Hypothec Commission. Mr. Campbell Swinton, Chairman, 
read out a draft report, prepared by him and Mr. Berry, 
giving an outline of the law and the general tenor of the 
evidence on both sides, on the whole very fairly done. 
The Chairman then said he had got from Mr. Fleming 
a note of the points (shortly written out) that required our 
decision, and on which he would take our opinions seriatim. 
The first question put was : Should the law be modified, 
or should it be wholly abrogated 1 I was the only person 
who said I was in favour of total abolition. Some time 
after this the Solicitor-General [G-. Young] came in, and he 
said he was in favour of total abolition, but he thought it 
was not practicable to carry such a measure. Mr. Curror 
stated his opinion to the same effect at another part of the 
discussion. The following of grain was the next point. 
It was unanimously agreed to recommend bona fide sales, 
with delivery and payment, to be free from challenge. 
The next point was whether the owner of cattle grazing, 
or sheep feeding on turnips, should be liable to pay a second 
time. Mr. Carnegie recommended that the turnips or grass 
consumed should be held as grain delivered and paid for. 
The Lord Provost [C. Lawson] proposed that the owner 
should remain liable, even after the stock was removed 
from the ground, if the rent was unpaid in the value of the 



APPENDIX. 379 

grass and turnips. This motion of his Lordship's (to extend 
the law) was not seconded, and the Commissioners divided, 
when six voted for the power of the landlord to exact 
repayment of what the stock had consumed on the ground, 
but not otherwise. I voted for Mr. Carnegie's motion. 
Then it was proposed that implements of husbandry and 
household furniture, said not to be liable at present, should 
be exempted from hypothec, together with drain-tiles, 
lime, and manure, and anything brought on the farm 
and not incorporated with it. Mr. M'Lagan objected, on 
the ground that landlords of farms near Edinburgh . and 
other towns, when the stock consisted of only a few 
horses, would have inadequate security. However, it was 
ultimately unanimously declared that the articles noted 
above should be declared free from hypothecation. The 
Lord Provost here proposed that manure-merchants, seed- 
merchants, and others who had contributed to the growth 
of the crop, should have some preference. I opposed this 
on the ground that the landlord's preference should be 
diminished, and not others added to the list. The next 
and most important point — Was the landlord to be entitled 
to one and a half year's rent on a tenant's bankruptcy, but 
no more 1 which was proposed by Mr. Fleming. Mr. Car- 
negie proposed one year's. I voted for Mr. Carnegie's 
proposal, which was negatived by six to four. Then Mr. 
Fleming's proposal was also negatived by six to five, so the 
law on this point is to remain as it is. Mr. M'Lagan then 
proposed that, to make the landlord's claim effectual, 
sequestration must take place within three months of each 
term of payment of rent. Sir William Gibson- Craig, Mr. 
Dundas, and the Lord Provost opposed this, but it was sup- 
ported by Mr. Murray and Mr. Fleming, in addition to the 
Solicitor-General, Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Curror, and myself. I 
stated that I would give in reasons of dissent. Mr. Car- 
negie proposed that reasons should be written by the 
Solicitor-General, and we, the dissentients, might all sign 
them. I am determined to write them out for myself. 
Mr. Murray produced written clauses for the various altera- 



380 APPENDIX. 

tions carried ; and Mr. Fleming's paper also had evidently 
been seen by the Tory party, so I am sure the whole thing 
was made up before the meeting, so far as Mr. Campbell 
Swinton, Mr. Dundas, Sir William Gibson-Craig, and Mr. 
Murray, if not also Mr. M'Lagan and the Lord Provost, 
were concerned." 



PRINTED BY T. AND A. CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY, 
AT THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



